Exodus 21:12

¹ “Whoever strikes someone ²  so that he dies ³  must surely be put to death. ⁴ 

Ge 9:6; Ex 20:13; Le 24:17; Nu 35:16-24,30,31; De 19:11-13; 2Sa 12:13; Mt 26:52

¹ sn The underlying point of this section remains vital today: The people of God must treat all human life as sacred.

² tn The construction uses a Hiphil participle in construct with the noun for “man” (or person as is understood in a law for the nation): “the one striking [of] a man.” This is a casus pendens (independent nominative absolute); it indicates the condition or action that involves further consequence (GKC 361 §116.w).

³ tn The Hebrew word וָמֵת (vamet) is a Qal perfect with vav consecutive; it means “and he dies” and not “and killed him” (which require another stem). Gesenius notes that this form after a participle is the equivalent of a sentence representing a contingent action (GKC 333 §112.n). The word shows the result of the action in the opening participle. It is therefore a case of murder or manslaughter.

⁴ sn See A. Phillips, “Another Look at Murder,” JJS 28 (1977): 105-26.