28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. 29 But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him. 31 Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32 If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 “And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
35 “If one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. 36 Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own.”
Comment:
We have coded this passage both green, because some of the principles it describes can still be applied today, and amber, because there is a death penalty involved and we do not have the authority to carry out this sentence.
The principle of a penalty for an animal owner who knew that his animal was dangerous and could have taken more precautions is still applicable. So is the principle of compensation for damage done by such an animal, and it is interesting that the level of monetary compensation for a male or female slave which is killed by an animal is thirty shekels of silver – the price for which Judas betrayed Yeshua. (If we compare this value with the values given in the first seven verses of Leviticus 27, we see that it is the same as the value of a free woman of between twenty and sixty years of age but is less than the value of a free man in the same age bracket.)