Imamat 24:17

24:17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, ¹  he must be put to death.

Imamat 24:21

24:21 One who beats an animal to death ²  must make restitution for it, but ³  one who beats a person to death must be put to death.

[24:17]  ¹ tn Heb “And if a man strikes any soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] of mankind.” The idiom seems to derive from the idea of striking a fatal blow to the very “life” (literally, “soul”) of a human being, not just landing a blow on their body (HALOT 698 s.v. נכה hif.2). On the difficult of the meaning and significance of the term נֶפֶשׁ see the notes on Lev 17:10-11.

[24:21]  ² sn See the note on v. 18 above.

[24:21]  ³ tn Heb “and,” but here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is adversative, contrasting the consequences of beating an animal to death with those of beating a person to death.