What Does Exodus 22:5 Mean in the King James?

If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.

Exodus 22:5 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse makes restitution a return to wholeness: what another’s land loses is repaid from the best of yours.

THE MEANING

When your actions consume another person’s yield, this verse names full repair: giving from the best of your own field or vineyard. The loss is answered materially, with value drawn from what you possess.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a token repayment makes a loss whole gives way to a more exact measure: repair comes from the best of one’s own yield.

THE ROOT

יְשַׁלֵּם

yeshallēm

GROWS FROM

שׁלם

sh-l-m

Be whole or complete; make whole, repay.

“restitution” in this verse is yeshallēm. The root holds repayment and wholeness together: repayment completes what the grazing has depleted. The verse draws that completion from the best of the responsible person’s yield.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness, completeness.

שָׁלוֹם

It shows the state toward which restitution moves: what was diminished is made whole.

shalem: Whole, complete.

שָׁלֵם

It carries the same idea of completeness contained in the act of repaying.

shillûm: Payment, recompense.

שִׁלּוּם

It makes the root’s link between payment and completing what is owed explicit.

THE PATTERN

When one person’s taking consumes another’s share, repair is made tangible by returning value, sometimes beyond the loss itself.

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.

Leviticus 6:5 · KJVRepair returns what was taken and adds a fifth part, making the return concrete and greater than the original amount.

But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

Proverbs 6:31 · KJVThe stolen value is answered through substantial repayment, not merely acknowledgment of the loss.

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.

Luke 19:8 · KJVZacchaeus makes repair measurable by returning fourfold what was taken.

THE THREAD

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

Psalm 50:14 · KJV

The verb “pay” shares the root ⁨שׁלם⁩ (sh-l-m, wholeness and repayment) with “make restitution” in this verse. The shared root links payment with completing what is owed, so the loss in the field is answered as an account made whole.

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