Exodus 22:9

22:9 In all cases of illegal possessions, ¹  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ²  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ³  and the one whom ⁴  the judges declare guilty ⁵  must repay double to his neighbor.

Exodus 22:12

22:12 But if it was stolen ⁶  from him, ⁷  he will pay its owner.

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¹ tn Heb “concerning every kind [thing] of trespass.”

² tn The text simply has “this is it” (הוּא זֶה, hu’ zeh).

³ tn Again, or “God.”

⁴ tn This kind of clause Gesenius calls an independent relative clause – it does not depend on a governing substantive but itself expresses a substantival idea (GKC 445-46 §138.e).

⁵ tn The verb means “to be guilty” in Qal; in Hiphil it would have a declarative sense, because a causative sense would not possibly fit.

⁶ tn Both with this verb “stolen” and in the next clauses with “torn in pieces,” the text uses the infinitive absolute construction with less than normal emphasis; as Gesenius says, in conditional clauses, an infinitive absolute stresses the importance of the condition on which some consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

⁷ sn The point is that the man should have taken better care of the animal.