Exodus 21:33
New International Version
“If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

New Living Translation
“Suppose someone digs or uncovers a pit and fails to cover it, and then an ox or a donkey falls into it.

English Standard Version
“When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Berean Standard Bible
If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

King James Bible
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;

New King James Version
“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it,

New American Standard Bible
“Now if someone opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

NASB 1995
“If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

NASB 1977
“And if a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Legacy Standard Bible
“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Amplified Bible
“If a man leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Christian Standard Bible
“When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

American Standard Version
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And when a man will open a pit or a man will dig a well and will not cover them and an ox or a donkey will fall there;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And if any one open a pit or dig a cavity in stone, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall in there,

Contemporary English Version
Suppose someone's ox or donkey is killed by falling into an open pit that you dug or left uncovered on your property.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it,

English Revised Version
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn't cover it and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

Good News Translation
"If someone takes the cover off a pit or if he digs one and does not cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

International Standard Version
If a man opens a pit or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it,

JPS Tanakh 1917
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

Literal Standard Version
And when a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey has fallen [in] there—

Majority Standard Bible
If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

New American Bible
When someone uncovers or digs a cistern and does not cover it over again, should an ox or a donkey fall into it,

NET Bible
"If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

New Revised Standard Version
If someone leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

New Heart English Bible
"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

Webster's Bible Translation
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass shall fall into it;

World English Bible
“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

Young's Literal Translation
'And when a man doth open a pit, or when a man doth dig a pit, and doth not cover it, and an ox or ass hath fallen thither, --

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Laws about Restitution
33If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.…

Cross References
Exodus 21:32
If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

Exodus 21:34
the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.


Treasury of Scripture

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;

Psalm 9:15
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

Psalm 119:85
The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

Proverbs 28:10
Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.

Jump to Previous
Ass Bull Cover Covering Death Dig Digs Donkey Dropping Earth Fails Fall Fallen Falls Hole Leaves Makes Open Opens Ox Pit Therein Thither Uncovers
Jump to Next
Ass Bull Cover Covering Death Dig Digs Donkey Dropping Earth Fails Fall Fallen Falls Hole Leaves Makes Open Opens Ox Pit Therein Thither Uncovers
Exodus 21
1. Laws for men servants
5. For the servant whose ear is bored
7. For women servants
12. For manslaughter
16. For kidnappers
17. For cursers of parents
18. For smiters
22. For a hurt by chance
28. For an ox that gores
33. For him who is an occasion of harm














LAWS CONCERNING THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY.

(33-36) The legislation slides from rights of persons to rights of property easily and without effort, by passing from the injuries which cattle cause to those which they suffer. They are injured (1) by the culpable laches of persons leaving their pits uncovered; (2) by hurts which one man's cattle inflict upon another's. Both kinds of loss have to be made good.

(33) If a man shall open a pit.--Rather, uncover a well. The wells in the East commonly have covers, which are removed when water is drawn, and then replaced. If a man neglected to replace a cover, he was rightly answerable for any damage that might ensue. The case was the same if he dug a new well, and neglected to cover it over.

Verse 33. - If a man shall open a pit. Rather, "If a man shall uncover a cistern." Cisterns, very necessary in Palestine, were usually closed by a flat-stone, or a number of planks. To obtain water from them, they had to be uncovered; but it was the duty of the man who uncovered them, to replace the covering when his wants were satisfied. Or dig a pit and not cover it. A man who was making a cistern might neglect to cover it while it was in course of construction, or even afterwards, if he thought his own cattle would take no hurt. But in the unfenced fields of Palestine it was always possible that a neighbour' s cattle might go astray and suffer injury through such a piece of negligence. An ox, or an ass, falling into a cistern, would be unable to extricate itself, and might be drowned.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
If
וְכִֽי־ (wə·ḵî-)
Conjunctive waw | Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

a man
אִ֜ישׁ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

opens
יִפְתַּ֨ח (yip̄·taḥ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6605: To open wide, to loosen, begin, plough, carve

or
א֠וֹ (’ōw)
Conjunction
Strong's 176: Desire, if

digs
יִכְרֶ֥ה (yiḵ·reh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3738: To dig, to plot, to bore, open

a pit
בֹּ֖ר (bōr)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 953: A pit, cistern, well

and fails
וְלֹ֣א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to cover it,
יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ (yə·ḵas·sen·nū)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3680: To plump, fill up hollows, to cover

and an ox
שּׁ֖וֹר (šō·wr)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7794: A head of cattle (bullock, ox, etcetera)

or
א֥וֹ (’ōw)
Conjunction
Strong's 176: Desire, if

a donkey
חֲמֽוֹר׃ (ḥă·mō·wr)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2543: A male ass

falls
וְנָֽפַל־ (wə·nā·p̄al-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

into it,
שָׁ֥מָּה (šām·māh)
Adverb | third person feminine singular
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither


Links
Exodus 21:33 NIV
Exodus 21:33 NLT
Exodus 21:33 ESV
Exodus 21:33 NASB
Exodus 21:33 KJV

Exodus 21:33 BibleApps.com
Exodus 21:33 Biblia Paralela
Exodus 21:33 Chinese Bible
Exodus 21:33 French Bible
Exodus 21:33 Catholic Bible

OT Law: Exodus 21:33 If a man opens a pit (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 21:32
Top of Page
Top of Page