If it gores a man’s son or daughter is not an exception but a further provision of the law. If it gores here means, as Good News Translation expresses it, “If the bull kills.” (See the comment on “gores” at verse 28.) And a man’s son or daughter (Contemporary English Version‘s “someone’s son or daughter”) may also be translated as “a boy or a girl” (Good News Translation). The point here is that the law applies even when children have been killed. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “a minor, male or female.” However, the more general “a boy or girl” or “children” is the more likely interpretation.

He shall be dealt with according to this same rule is literally “this judgment [or decision] shall be done to him.” The word for rule is mishpat, the same word translated “justice” in verse 9. (See the introduction to 20.22-26.) Good News Translation translates the meaning in a simpler way: “the same rule applies.” This final clause may be placed at the beginning of the verse as in Contemporary English Version: “This same law applies if the bull gores someone’s son or daughter.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .