Keluaran 22:6-7

22:6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads ¹  to thorn bushes, ²  so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started ³  the fire must surely make restitution.

22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles ⁴  for safekeeping, ⁵  and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, ⁶  he must repay double.

Keluaran 22:9-10

22:9 In all cases of illegal possessions, ⁷  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ⁸  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ⁹  and the one whom ¹⁰  the judges declare guilty ¹¹  must repay double to his neighbor. 22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ¹²  or is carried away ¹³  without anyone seeing it, ¹⁴ 

Keluaran 22:20-26

22:20 “Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord ¹⁵  alone must be utterly destroyed. ¹⁶ 

22:21 “You must not wrong ¹⁷  a foreigner ¹⁸  nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

22:22 “You must not afflict ¹⁹  any widow or orphan. 22:23 If you afflict them ²⁰  in any way ²¹  and they cry to me, I will surely hear ²²  their cry, 22:24 and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless. ²³ 

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ²⁴  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ²⁵  to him; do not charge ²⁶  him interest. ²⁷  22:26 If you do take ²⁸  the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down, ²⁹ 

[22:6]  ¹ tn Heb “if a fire goes out and finds”; NLT “if a fire gets out of control.”

[22:6]  ² sn Thorn bushes were used for hedges between fields, but thorn bushes also burned easily, making the fire spread rapidly.

[22:6]  ³ tn This is a Hiphil participle of the verb “to burn, kindle” used substantivally. This is the one who caused the fire, whether by accident or not.

[22:7]  ⁴ tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.

[22:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.

[22:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “found.”

[22:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “concerning every kind [thing] of trespass.”

[22:9]  ⁸ tn The text simply has “this is it” (הוּא זֶה, hu’ zeh).

[22:9]  ⁹ tn Again, or “God.”

[22:9]  ¹⁰ tn This kind of clause Gesenius calls an independent relative clause – it does not depend on a governing substantive but itself expresses a substantival idea (GKC 445-46 §138.e).

[22:9]  ¹¹ tn The verb means “to be guilty” in Qal; in Hiphil it would have a declarative sense, because a causative sense would not possibly fit.

[22:10]  ¹² tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ¹³ tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[22:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “not to Yahweh.”

[22:20]  ¹⁶ tn The verb חָרַם (kharam) means “to be devoted” to God or “to be banned.” The idea is that it would be God’s to do with as he liked. What was put under the ban was for God alone, either for his service or for his judgment. But it was out of human control. Here the verb is saying that the person will be utterly destroyed.

[22:21]  ¹⁷ tn Or “oppress.”

[22:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “alien,” both here and in 23:9. This individual is a resident foreigner; he lives in the land but, aside from provisions such as this, might easily be without legal rights.

[22:22]  ¹⁹ tn The verb “afflict” is a Piel imperfect from עָנָה (’anah); it has a wide range of meanings: “afflict, oppress, humiliate, rape.” These victims are at the mercy of the judges, businessmen, or villains. The righteous king and the righteous people will not mistreat them (see Isa 1:17; Job 31:16, 17, 21).

[22:23]  ²⁰ tn The accusative here is the masculine singular pronoun, which leads S. R. Driver to conclude that this line is out of place, even though the masculine singular can be used in places like this (Exodus, 232). U. Cassuto says its use is to refer to certain classes (Exodus, 292).

[22:23]  ²¹ tn Here again and with “cry” the infinitive absolute functions with a diminished emphasis (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[22:23]  ²² tn Here is the normal use of the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense to emphasize the verb: “I will surely hear,” implying, “I will surely respond.”

[22:24]  ²³ sn The punishment will follow the form of talionic justice, an eye for an eye, in which the punishment matches the crime. God will use invading armies (“sword” is a metonymy of adjunct here) to destroy them, making their wives widows and their children orphans.

[22:25]  ²⁴ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ²⁵ sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ²⁷ sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).

[22:26]  ²⁸ tn The construction again uses the infinitive absolute with the verb in the conditional clause to stress the condition.

[22:26]  ²⁹ tn The clause uses the preposition, the infinitive construct, and the noun that is the subjective genitive – “at the going in of the sun.”