Bible Strands
Exodus 21:30
If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God instructs Moses and the Israelite community on civil penalties following the delivery of the law. The verse applies when a warned ox owner faces execution for a fatal goring incident.
The words — כֹּפֶר (kofer) translates to "ransom" or "payment," and פִּדְיֹן (pidyon) denotes "redemption price." These terms establish a statutory substitution where monetary compensation replaces the death penalty.
The thread — The provision parallels Exodus 21:22 regarding compensation for non-fatal injury and Exodus 30:12 on census ransom. It directly contrasts with Numbers 35:31, which prohibits ransom for intentional murderers.
Why it lands — The text states that a demanded payment legally satisfies the obligation to redeem the owner's life. Readers must recognize that statutory substitution is permitted only where the law explicitly allows it.
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
If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.
- Numbers 35:31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.
- Proverbs 13:8 Riches may ransom a man’s life, but a poor man hears no threat.