What Does Exodus 23:4 Mean?
If you come upon your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering, you shall surely return it to him.
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 thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.THE KEY
The Hebrew doubles the verb “return,” making restoration the answer even when the owner is your enemy.
THE MEANING
A lost animal in your path becomes a point where hostility does not erase its owner’s claim: it is returned to him. The enemy remains the owner even while he is an enemy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that enmity cancels every obligation toward the other is undone here: the animal still belongs to its enemy-owner, and the return still happens.
THE ROOT
הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ
hāshēv teshîvenû
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
turn, return
The Hebrew repeats the root in an emphatic construction: “returning, you shall return it.” English gives one smooth phrase, while the Hebrew makes the animal’s return unmistakable, even the owner’s enmity does not interrupt it.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: turn, return
שׁוּב
This is the root action at the heart of the command: what has wandered away moves back toward its owner.
heshiv: bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form shows the return being made possible: someone brings the animal back.
teshuvah: return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related noun carries the same movement of turning back, making restoration the root’s broader pattern.
THE PATTERN
Return remains owed across enmity: what belongs to another is restored even when the relationship is hostile.
You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep driven off, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely turn them back to your brother.If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.But I say to you, love your enemies, speak well over those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and pursue you.THE THREAD
You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep driven off, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely turn them back to your brother.The same Hebrew root and emphatic construction appear with a brother’s wandering animal: the command is literally to return it, returning it. Here, the owner changes from brother to enemy, while the act of restoration stays the same.
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