complete verse (Exodus 21:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 21:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who has beaten someone to death, should himself be killed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If anyone hits a man so hard that he dies, shall surely be put to death.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Anyone who hurts/hits a person and he kills this-one, he must also be-killed/(put-to-death).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “God spoke again like this, ‘If anyone strikes another man so that he dies, you (pl.) must strike that man so that he dies.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “one who will hit a man and he dies, let them kill him.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “You must execute anyone who strikes another person with the result that the person who is struck dies.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exodus 21:12

Whoever strikes a man is literally “a striker of a man,” using a participle that means both Whoever and strikes. The same verb is used in 2.11, where Revised Standard Version has “beating” and Good News Translation has “kill.” Here Good News Translation correctly has “Whoever hits a man and kills him,” since the law is very specific: so that he dies. This law therefore does not apply to someone who strikes a man if the victim does not die.

Shall be put to death, literally “dying he shall be caused to die,” is a very emphatic form. New International Version has “shall surely be put to death,” and others have “must be put to death” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible). The same form is used for the other three laws in this series—verses 15, 16, and 17. In languages that do not have a passive voice, one may express this as “they shall execute [or, kill] him.”

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 .