What Does Exodus 22:9 Mean?
For every matter of trespass, whether it be for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a garment, or for any thing that has lost its way, which another claims is his; the word of both shall come before the judges; and whom the judges find in the wrong, he shall make whole twice over to his neighbor.
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
For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.THE KEY
The verse calls both the alleged trespass and the parties’ cause a *davar*, a word and a matter, so the claim itself becomes what judgment must weigh.
THE MEANING
When a lost thing becomes the subject of competing claims, neither claim settles its ownership; the matter comes before judges. The one they find responsible pays double to the neighbor. Loss, accusation, judgment, and restitution remain joined in one sequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that an accusation makes guilt self-evident: both parties’ matter comes before judges, and repayment follows their finding.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word or matter.
The verse uses דבר (*davar*, “word; matter”) twice: KJV first renders it “manner” in “all manner of trespass,” then “cause” in “the cause of both parties.” The shared word ties the alleged breach to the matter brought before judgment.
ALSO GROWS
*davar*: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It is the noun behind both “manner” and “cause” in the verse, joining what is alleged to what must be judged.
*dibber*: Spoke or said.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root shows the link between a spoken claim and the matter that comes before the judges.
אֲבֵדָה
avēdāh
GROWS FROM
אבד
To perish, be lost, or disappear.
“thing that has lost its way” in this verse is avēdāh. The property is named by its lost state, from a root meaning to perish or disappear. Its disappearance is clear, but who owns it remains to be judged.
ALSO GROWS
*avad*: Perish or be lost.
אָבַד
This verb names the condition that brings the object into dispute.
*oved*: One who is lost or perishing.
אֹבֵד
The same root describes loss as a condition, while the verse makes ownership of the lost thing the question for judgment.
*avaddon*: Destruction or ruin.
אֲבַדּוֹן
This branch carries the root’s movement from something lost toward what has disappeared or been destroyed.
פֶּשַׁע
pesha
GROWS FROM
פשע
Breach, rebellion, or breaking away.
The opening category translated “trespass” carries the sense of rebellion or breach. The verse holds that possible break in the neighbor’s claim to a hearing, then attaches a doubled material remedy to the judgment.
ALSO GROWS
*pasha*: Rebel or break away.
פָּשַׁע
The verb shows the action beneath the category of trespass: a breach that may be at issue between neighbors.
*poshea*: One who rebels or breaks away.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This branch names the person responsible for a breach, a status the verse leaves to the judges to determine.
THE PATTERN
A contested claim is weighed through hearing and judgment, and a finding carries a concrete consequence.
Then both men, between whom the strife is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days;The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.Does our instruction judge a man before it hears him, and know what he does?THE THREAD
When they have a word, they come to me, and I judge between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his instructions.The Hebrew rendered “matter” here is *davar*, the same word rendered “cause” in Exodus 22:9. In both verses, a dispute is brought forward and judged between neighbors.
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