Discovery BoxExodus 21:21 
Context21:21 However, if the injured servant 1 survives one or two days, the owner 2 will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss. 3
Exodus 21:34
Context21:34 the owner of the pit must repay 4 the loss. He must give money 5 to its owner, and the dead animal 6 will become his.
1 tn Heb “if he”; the referent (the servant struck and injured in the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the injured servant) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 tn This last clause is a free paraphrase of the Hebrew, “for he is his money” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “his property.” It seems that if the slave survives a couple of days, it is probable that the master was punishing him and not intending to kill him. If he then dies, there is no penalty other than that the owner loses the slave who is his property – he suffers the loss.
4 tn The verb is a Piel imperfect from שָׁלַם (shalam); it has the idea of making payment in full, making recompense, repaying. These imperfects could be given a future tense translation as imperfects of instruction, but in the property cases an obligatory imperfect fits better – this is what he is bound or obliged to do – what he must do.
5 tn Heb “silver.”
6 tn Here the term “animal” has been supplied.
