complete verse (Exodus 21:29)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 21:29:

  • Kupsabiny: “And if that bull has indeed been knocking people for long and the owner had been informed and did not lock the bull inside the grazing area, and it again knocks someone else to death, that bull has to be stoned to death and the owner should also be killed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Unless the ox was known to gorge people in the past, and the owner had been notified and still the ox was not kept under control in that case, if it kills a man or woman, the ox must be stoned to death and the owner also must be killed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But if the bull/(cow) has-a-habit of goring people and the owner has-been-warned about this, but he has- just -allowed-to-do-whatever the bull/(cow), and it happens-to-kill a person, it must be-stoned to death and the owner is- also -to-be-killed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But if the bulmakao’s behavior was like that all the time, and so the people made strong talk to the bulmakao’s owner, yet he didn’t put the bulmakao to stay in a pen, and then he struck a man or woman so that he/she died, you (pl.) must strike that bulmakao with stones so that it dies. And you must strike the bulmakao’s owner also.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “If they warn its owner that that cow butts people, if it again will butt a man and he die, let them strike it with stone [that] it might die, and let them kill its owner also.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “But suppose the bull had attacked people several times before, and its owner had been warned, but he did not keep the bull inside a fence. Then you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it, but you must also execute its owner.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 21:29

But if uses the secondary “if” (ʾim) to introduce an exception to verse 28. (See verse 2.) If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past is literally “And if the bull is a gorer before yesterday three days ago.” This means “if the bull has been in the habit of attacking people” (Good News Translation) or “is habitually belligerent” (Durham).

And its owner has been warned is the first of three more “and” clauses that continue the idea of “if” from the opening clause. These clauses specify the exact conditions to which the penalty will apply. The text does not specify by whom “its owner had been warned” (Good News Translation), but one may say “and people have warned the owner.” But has not kept it in is literally “and he did not watch it.” In this context, of course, it means that the owner “has not restrained it” (New Revised Standard Version), “did not keep it penned up” (Good News Translation), or “refused to keep it fenced in” (Contemporary English Version). And it kills a man or a woman uses the verb “to die” in the sense of “causing to die.”

The ox shall be stoned is the main clause, meaning that the “bull” must be killed by stoning. But the main clause continues: and its owner also shall be put to death. Literally it says “and also its owner shall die,” without indicating how he is to be killed.

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 .