Discovery BoxExodus 12:19 
Context12:19 For seven days 1 yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person 2 will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner 3 or one born in the land.
Exodus 22:4
Context22:4 If the stolen item should in fact be found 4 alive in his possession, 5 whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double. 6
Exodus 22:8
Context22:8 If the thief is not caught, 7 then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges 8 to see 9 whether he has laid 10 his hand on his neighbor’s goods.
1 tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12, §56).
2 tn The term is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), often translated “soul.” It refers to the whole person, the soul within the body. The noun is feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb “be cut off.”
3 tn Or “alien”; or “stranger.”
4 tn The construction uses a Niphal infinitive absolute and a Niphal imperfect: if it should indeed be found. Gesenius says that in such conditional clauses the infinitive absolute has less emphasis, but instead emphasizes the condition on which some consequence depends (see GKC 342-43 §113.o).
5 tn Heb “in his hand.”
6 sn He must pay back one for what he took, and then one for the penalty – his loss as he was inflicting a loss on someone else.
7 tn Heb “found.”
8 tn Here again the word used is “the gods,” meaning the judges who made the assessments and decisions. In addition to other works, see J. R. Vannoy, “The Use of the Word ha’elohim in Exodus 21:6 and 22:7,8,” The Law and the Prophets, 225-41.
9 tn The phrase “to see” has been supplied.
10 tn The line says “if he has not stretched out his hand.” This could be the oath formula, but the construction here would be unusual, or it could be taken as “whether” (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:438). U. Cassuto (Exodus, 286) does not think the wording can possibly fit an oath; nevertheless, an oath would be involved before God (as he takes it instead of “judges”) – if the man swore, his word would be accepted, but if he would not swear, he would be guilty.
