What Does Exodus 23:4 Mean in the King James?
If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
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
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
“bring back” in this verse is hāshēv teshîvenû. 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.
Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;THE THREAD
Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy 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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