Exodus 22:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 22:4 tn The construction uses a Niphal infinitive absolute and a Niphal imperfect: if it should indeed be found. Gesenius says that in such conditional clauses the infinitive absolute has less emphasis, but instead emphasizes the condition on which some consequence depends (see GKC 342-43 §113.o).
2. Exodus 22:4 tn Heb “in his hand.”
3. Exodus 22:4 sn He must pay back one for what he took, and then one for the penalty—his loss as he was inflicting a loss on someone else.
4. Exodus 22:5 tn The verb בָּעַר (baʿar, “graze”) as a denominative from the word “livestock” is not well attested. So some have suggested that with slight changes this verse could be read: “If a man cause a field or a vineyard to be burnt, and let the burning spread, and it burnt in another man’s field” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 225).
5. Exodus 22:5 tn The phrase “his livestock” is supplied from the next clause.
6. Exodus 22:6 tn Heb “if a fire goes out and finds”; NLT “if a fire gets out of control.”
7. Exodus 22:6 sn Thorn bushes were used for hedges between fields, but thorn bushes also burned easily, making the fire spread rapidly.
8. Exodus 22:6 tn This is a Hiphil participle of the verb “to burn, kindle” used substantivally. This is the one who caused the fire, whether by accident or not.