What Does Exodus 22:3 Mean in the King James?
If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Daylight changes the judgment of bloodshed, while the theft still creates a debt that must be repaid.
THE MEANING
When the intruder is visible in daylight, killing him carries bloodguilt. The theft remains a concrete debt: full repayment is required, and if the thief has nothing, he is sold for the theft. The verse keeps the judgment of bloodshed distinct from the cost of what was taken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that a thief’s wrongdoing makes killing automatically blameless: daylight changes the blood judgment, even as the theft still requires repayment.
THE ROOT
שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם
shallēm yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; in this verb form, to repay or make good.
“make full restitution” in this verse is shallēm yeshallēm. The repeated verb intensifies the obligation: repayment is emphatic. Its shared root with שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness and well-being) lets restitution carry the sense of making good what was taken, while the verse leaves the cost starkly material.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
The same root that names wholeness also forms the verb for repayment, linking restitution with making good a loss.
shillem: He repaid, recompensed
שִׁלֵּם
This form shares the verse’s root and makes clear that the obligation concerns repayment, not merely admitting the theft.
THE PATTERN
What is taken creates a material debt answered by concrete repayment, sometimes beyond the original amount.
Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.The word translated “restore” uses the same ש־ל־ם (sh-l-m, wholeness and repayment) root as “make full restitution” in Exodus. Leviticus makes the measure explicit: the principal is returned, with a fifth added.
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