What Does Exodus 22:15 Mean?
But if its owner is with it, he shall not make it whole; if it is a hired thing, it came for its hire.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.THE KEY
Hebrew holds repayment and wholeness in one root, while this verse shows that the exchange’s existing terms decide whether anything remains to be repaid.
THE MEANING
The loss is weighed within the terms of the exchange: when the owner is with the borrowed thing, repayment is not charged; a hired thing is treated under the hire already attached to it. The verse makes presence and prior compensation part of the account.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Possession alone does not always make the holder liable for every loss.
THE ROOT
יְשַׁלֵּם
yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole or complete; in this form, to repay or make good.
“make whole” in this verse is yeshallēm. The verb for repayment grows from the same root as words for wholeness and completeness. English presents a payment; Hebrew also lets the idea of settling what is owed echo the idea of making something whole.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
This branch shows the root’s wider sense of completeness beneath the verse’s language of settling an account.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
The shared root links making good with the idea of bringing an account or condition to completion.
שָׂכִיר
sākîr sekārô
GROWS FROM
שכר
To hire or pay wages; the noun refers to hire or wages.
The verse pairs שָׂכִיר (sākîr, “hired”) with שְׂכָרוֹ (sekārô, “its hire”), repeating the same root. The hire is part of how this exchange is understood, not an incidental detail added after the loss.
ALSO GROWS
sākār: Wages, hire
שָׂכָר
This is the same root as “hire” in the verse, keeping the arrangement’s payment in view.
maskōret: Wages, agreed compensation
מַשְׂכֹּרֶת
This related word for wages shows the root’s connection to compensation set within an arrangement.
THE PATTERN
Responsibility for a loss follows the conditions and compensation already present in the exchange.
If a man asks his neighbor for a thing, and it is broken or dies, its owner not with it, he shall surely make it whole.The owner of the pit makes it whole, and gives silver to its owner, and the dead beast is his.And remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they give, for the worker is worthy of his pay. Do not step from house to house.THE THREAD
If a man asks his neighbor for a thing, and it is broken or dies, its owner not with it, he shall surely make it whole.Both verses use יְשַׁלֵּם (yeshallēm), “make good” or “repay.” The preceding verse assigns repayment when the owner is absent; this one names the owner’s presence as an exception, so the shared root makes the contrast clear.
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