Exodus 22:1
כִּי יִגְנֹֽב־אִישׁ שׁוֹר אוֹ־שֶׂה וּטְבָחוֹ אוֹ מְכָרוֹ חֲמִשָּׁה בָקָר יְשַׁלֵּם תַּחַת הַשּׁוֹר וְאַרְבַּע־צֹאן תַּחַת הַשֶּֽׂה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֤י יִגְנֹֽב־אִישׁ֙ שׁ֣וֹר אוֹ־שֶׂ֔ה וּטְבָח֖וֹ א֣וֹ מְכָר֑וֹ חֲמִשָּׁ֣ה בָקָ֗ר יְשַׁלֵּם֙ תַּ֣חַת הַשּׁ֔וֹר וְאַרְבַּע־צֹ֖אן תַּ֥חַת הַשֶּֽׂה׃
Ἐὰν δέ τις κλέψῃ μόσχον ἢ πρόβατον καὶ σφάξῃ ἢ ἀποδῶται, πέντε μόσχους ἀποτίσει ἀντὶτοῦ μόσχου καὶ τέσσερα πρόβατα ἀντὶ τοῦ προβάτου.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Si quis furatus fuerit bovem aut ovem, et occiderit vel vendiderit: quinque boves pro uno bove restituet, et quatuor oves pro una ove.
“Si alguien se roba un toro o una oveja, y luego lo mata o lo vende, tendrá que pagar cinco toros por el toro robado, o cuatro ovejas por la oveja robada.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
CUANDO alguno hurtare buey ú oveja, y le degollare ó vendiere, por aquel buey pagará cinco bueyes, y por aquella oveja cuatro ovejas.
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse establishes a legal case: if a man steals an ox or a sheep and then either slaughters it or sells it, he must repay five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. The sentence is structured as a conditional clause followed by the required restitution.
Key words
- ki ("if", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening the casuistic (case-law) structure typical of this legal section.
- yig.nov ("he will steal", H1589) — qal imperfect, marking the hypothetical/future action that triggers the case.
- te.va.Ch ("he will slaughter", H2873) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), continuing the narrative sequence after the imperfect verb.
- me.kha.R ("he has sold", H4376) — qal perfect, presented as an alternative completed action to slaughtering, joined by 'o ("or", H0176A).
- ye.sha.Lem ("he will repay", H7999A) — piel imperfect, an intensive stem expressing the obligatory, resulting action of restitution.
What the text says
The verse opens with ki ("if", H3588A), a conditional particle that frames the entire unit as a legal protasis. The verb yig.nov ("he will steal", H1589) is qal imperfect, expressing the hypothetical act of theft committed by 'ish ("anyone", H0376I) against shor ("an ox", H7794) or seh ("a sheep", H7716). The clause then shifts verb form: te.va.Ch ("he will slaughter", H2873) is a vav-consecutive perfect, a grammatical device that continues the sequence begun by the imperfect, effectively narrating "and then he slaughters." This is followed by me.kha.R ("he has sold", H4376), a plain qal perfect linked by 'o ("or", H0176A), presenting selling as an alternative outcome to slaughtering.
The apodosis (consequence) begins with ye.sha.Lem ("he will repay", H7999A), a piel (intensive) imperfect. The piel stem here carries a causative/obligatory nuance — the thief is caused to make full payment. The repayment amounts are specified using construct-state tachat ("in place of", H8478H) twice, each governing the definite noun for the stolen animal: ha-shor ("the ox", H7794) and ha-seh ("the sheep", H7716), showing an exact substitutionary correspondence between the number owed and the specific animal type stolen — five cattle for an ox, four sheep for a sheep.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders shor ("ox") as moschon ("calf/young bull") and, for the repayment, uses moschous ("calves") rather than a general term for cattle, where the Hebrew baqar (H1241, "cattle") is a broader category than "calf." The Vulgate uses boves ("oxen/cattle") for the repayment, aligning more closely with the Hebrew baqar. The Hebrew's two occurrences of tachat ("in place of", H8478H) are rendered by the LXX with anti and by the Vulgate with pro, both preserving the substitutionary sense of the construct phrase.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.