Discovery BoxExodus 18:16 
Context18:16 When they have a dispute, 1 it comes to me and I decide 2 between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” 3
Exodus 21:35
Context21:35 If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, 4 and they will also divide the dead ox. 5
Exodus 22:7-8
Context22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles 6 for safekeeping, 7 and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, 8 he must repay double. 22:8 If the thief is not caught, 9 then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges 10 to see 11 whether he has laid 12 his hand on his neighbor’s goods.
Exodus 22:10-11
Context22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt 13 or is carried away 14 without anyone seeing it, 15 22:11 then there will be an oath to the Lord 16 between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.
Exodus 22:14
Context22:14 “If a man borrows an animal 17 from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it 18 will surely pay.
1 tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”
2 tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge”; more specifically, it means to make a decision as an arbiter or umpire. When people brought issues to him, Moses decided between them. In the section of laws in Exodus after the Ten Commandments come the decisions, the מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim).
3 tn The “decrees” or “statutes” were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; the “laws” were directives or pronouncements given when situations arose. S. R. Driver suggests this is another reason why this event might have taken place after Yahweh had given laws on the mountain (Exodus, 165).
4 tn Literally “its silver” or “silver for it.”
5 tn Heb “divide the dead.” The noun “ox” has been supplied.
6 tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.
7 tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.
8 tn Heb “found.”
9 tn Heb “found.”
10 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.
11 tn The phrase “to see” has been supplied.
12 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.
13 tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.
14 tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.
15 tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”
16 tn The construct relationship שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (shÿvu’at yÿhvah, “the oath of Yahweh”) would require a genitive of indirect object, “an oath [to] Yahweh.” U. Cassuto suggests that it means “an oath by Yahweh” (Exodus, 287). The person to whom the animal was entrusted would take a solemn oath to Yahweh that he did not appropriate the animal for himself, and then his word would be accepted.
17 tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
