What Does Exodus 22:4 Mean?
If what was stolen is surely found alive in his hand, whether an ox, or a donkey, or a sheep; he shall make whole twice over.
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
If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.THE KEY
The word translated “restore” shares a root with “wholeness”: even when the stolen animal is found alive, the account still has to be made good twice over.
THE MEANING
When what is stolen is found still alive in the taker’s hand, the account remains open: he must repay double. The animal’s recovery does not erase the taking.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“If the stolen thing is recovered, nothing more is owed.”
THE ROOT
יְשַׁלֵּם
yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be whole or complete; make good, repay.
“make whole” in this verse is yeshallēm. Alongside the concrete payment, this root carries the sense of completing or making good. Its kinship with the word for wholeness lets repayment here resonate as an account brought toward completion.
ALSO GROWS
shalēm: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes completeness visible in the same root family as the verb for repaying the theft.
shalom: Wholeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
The shared root links repayment with the language of wholeness, revealing a connection that the English words “restore” and “peace” do not show.
THE PATTERN
Scripture answers a taking with measured restitution beyond the thing taken.
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and slaughter it, or sell it; he shall make whole five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.But if he is found, he restores it whole, sevenfold; he gives all the wealth of his house.And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of what I have to the emptied, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I give back fourfold."THE THREAD
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and slaughter it, or sell it; he shall make whole five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.The verb translated “restore” comes from the same root as “repay” in Exodus 22:4. Here the animal is killed or sold and the repayment is greater; in the present verse it is found alive, and the account is still settled through double repayment.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us