21:18 “If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed, 1 21:19 and then 2 if he gets up and walks about 3 outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay 4 for the injured person’s 5 loss of time 6 and see to it that he is fully healed.
1 tn Heb “falls to bed.”
2 tn “and then” has been supplied.
3 tn The verb is a Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the sequence of the imperfect before it – “if he gets up and walks about.” This is proof of recovery.
4 tn The imperfect tense carries a nuance of obligatory imperfect because this is binding on the one who hit him.
5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the injured person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn The word appears to be the infinitive from the verb “to sit” with a meaning of “his sitting down”; some suggest it is from the verb “to rest” with a meaning “cease.” In either case the point in the context must mean compensation is due for the time he was down.