What Does Exodus 22:6 Mean in the King James?

If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

Exodus 22:6 · 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 word for restitution grows from the same root as wholeness: the fire’s loss is answered by making good what it consumed.

THE MEANING

When what you kindle spreads and consumes what sustains someone else, responsibility follows the fire into the field. The one who kindles it must make restitution for what is lost. The Hebrew root links repayment with wholeness, casting repair as an answer to the full damage.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that responsibility ends at the first spark dissolves here: the one who kindles the fire owes restitution for what the spreading flame consumes.

THE ROOT

שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם

shallem yeshallem

GROWS FROM

שׁלם

sh-l-m

Be whole; make complete; repay.

The doubled verb form intensifies the obligation: “pay, he shall pay,” rendered “shall surely make restitution.” Its root also names wholeness, connecting repayment with making good what the fire has consumed.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness, well-being.

שָׁלוֹם

The same root that names repayment also names wholeness, revealing the restorative aim within restitution.

shalem: Whole, complete.

שָׁלֵם

This branch brings the root’s sense of completeness into focus: the loss calls for an answer that addresses what was consumed.

THE PATTERN

When harm or loss is traced to someone’s action, responsibility calls for repair that answers the loss.

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 · KJVThe one whose animal consumes another person’s crops must repay from the best of his own field or vineyard.

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 · KJVRestitution returns what was owed and adds a fifth part, giving repair a measure beyond the original 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 answers what he has taken with a concrete repayment to the person who bore the loss.

THE THREAD

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

Proverbs 6:31 · KJV

Proverbs uses the same ⁨שׁלם⁩ (sh-l-m) verb family as Exodus’s emphatic “shall surely make restitution”: the thief “shall restore sevenfold.” Its shared root with ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness) makes the restorative aim visible: repayment answers the loss.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us