Discovery BoxLeviticus 24:21 
Context24:21 One who beats an animal to death 1 must make restitution for it, but 2 one who beats a person to death must be put to death.
Leviticus 24:17-18
Context24:17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, 3 he must be put to death. 24:18 One who beats an animal to death 4 must make restitution for it, life for life. 5
1 sn See the note on v. 18 above.
2 tn Heb “and,” but here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is adversative, contrasting the consequences of beating an animal to death with those of beating a person to death.
3 tn Heb “And if a man strikes any soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] of mankind.” The idiom seems to derive from the idea of striking a fatal blow to the very “life” (literally, “soul”) of a human being, not just landing a blow on their body (HALOT 698 s.v. נכה hif.2). On the difficult of the meaning and significance of the term נֶפֶשׁ see the notes on Lev 17:10-11.
4 tn Heb “And one who strikes a soul of an animal.”
5 tn Heb “soul under soul.” Cf. KJV “beast for beast”; NCV “must give…another animal to take its place.”
