Bible Strands
Exodus 21:18
If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God delivers this statute to the Israelite community through Moses, placing it directly after the capital punishment for cursing parents. The law addresses any two men engaged in a physical altercation where one delivers a blow.
The words — The Hebrew root רִיב (riyv) denotes a formal quarrel or dispute, while the verb הִכָּה (hikkah) specifies a deliberate striking action. These terms establish the legal boundary between intentional assault and accidental harm.
The thread — Parallel combat injury statutes appear in Exodus 21:20 regarding a servant and Exodus 21:22 concerning a pregnant woman. The narrative of two Hebrews fighting in Exodus 2:13 provides a historical parallel to this legal scenario.
Why it lands — The text states that non-fatal violence requires financial compensation for lost labor and guaranteed medical recovery rather than execution. It asks the reader to apply proportional justice by measuring the injury against the penalty.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
Cross-references
- Exodus 21:20 If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- Exodus 2:13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”
- Exodus 21:22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
- Numbers 35:16 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 25:11 If two men are fighting, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,
- 2 Samuel 14:6 And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.