Exodus 21:32

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

If the bull gores a man-servant or a maid-servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יִגַּ֥ח

nâgach

H5055

“to gore”

Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 11× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 21:28

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1291

to push, thrust, gore - (Qal) to gore - (Piel) to push or thrust at - (Hithpael) to engage in thrusting, wage war

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
12: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is יִגַּ֥ח to gore H5055 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יִגַּ֥ח to gore H5055 occurs in 10 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
7 nouns
1 adjective
2 conjunctions

Verb forms

יִגַּ֥ח Qal · Imperfect
יִתֵּן֙ Qal · Imperfect
יִסָּקֵֽל Niphal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

הַשּׁ֖וֹר ox H7794 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 25 words from the Hebrew and 24 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 13 Hebrew tokens and 19 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 21:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Zechariah 11:12–13 I said to them, "If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them." So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 26:15 and said, "What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?" They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 27:3–9 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Genesis 37:28 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.
Exodus 21:28–29 "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
Philippians 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 21:32 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אִם עֶ֛בֶד יִגַּ֥ח הַשּׁ֖וֹר א֣וֹ אָמָ֑ה כֶּ֣סֶף שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שְׁקָלִ֗ים יִתֵּן֙ לַֽאדֹנָ֔יו וְהַשּׁ֖וֹר יִסָּקֵֽל

If the bull gores a man-servant or a maid-servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 21:32 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν δέ παῖς κερατίζω ὁ ταῦρος ἤ παιδίσκη ἀργύριον τριάκοντα δίδραγμον δίδωμι ὁ κύριος αὐτός καί ὁ ταῦρος λιθοβολέω

And if the bull gore a man-servant or maidservant, he shall pay to their master thirty silver didrachmas, and the bull shall be stoned.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

אִם לְעַבְדָא יַגַח תּוֹרָא אוֹ לְאַמְתָא כְּסַף תְּלָתִין סִלְעִין יִתֵּן לְרִבּוֹנֵהּ וְתוֹרָא יִתְרְגֵם:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

בְּרַם אִין עֶבֶד כְּנַעֲנָאֵי נְגַשׁ תּוֹרָא אוֹ אַמְתָא כְּנַעֲנִיתָא כְּסַף תְּלָתִין סִלְעִין יִתֵּן לְמָרֵיהּ דְּעַבְדָא אוֹ דְאַמְתָא וְתוֹרָא יִתְרְגָם

If an ox goreth a Kenaanite man-servant or handmaid, the master of the man or woman-servant shall give thirty sileen of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 21:32 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 21:32 If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Ver. 32. Thirty shekels.] This same was that "goodly price" that our Lord Christ was valued at by the vile Jews. {Zec 11:12-13 Mat 26:15}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Read Gen. 23:15.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 32. Thirty shekels] Each worth about three shillings English; see Ge 20:16-15. So, counting the shekel at its utmost value, the life of a slave was valued at four pounds ten shillings. And at this price these same vile people valued the life of our blessed Lord; see Zec 11:12-13; Mt 26:15. And in return, the justice of God has ordered it so, that they have been sold for slaves into every country of the universe. And yet, strange to tell, they see not the hand of God in so visible a retribution!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

32. If the ox killed a slave, however, it was sufficient if its owner paid his master as compensation the ordinary value of a slave, and suffered at the same time the loss of his animal’s services. Another instance of the lower value set upon a slave’s life: he is in this case valued simply as a chattel.

a manservant or a maidservant] a male or female Slave.

thirty shekels of silver] doubtless the average price of a slave at the time It seems that the intrinsic value of a shekel of silver was about 2 Samuel 9 d. (DB. iii. 420a), so that the silver of 30 shekels would be worth now about £4. 2 Samuel 6 d, (though its purchasing power would be many times greater: ibid. note, and 431 f.). The free Hebrew was valued at 50 shekels (Lev_27:3 f.). The same sum was offered as his wages to the prophet who, in the allegory of Zechariah 11, represented the rejected ruler of his people (v. 12: cf. Mat_26:15). Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver (Gen_37:28 b [J]).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

If the ox shall push a manservant, or a maidservant,.... Which the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of a Canaanitish servant, man or maid; but no doubt the same provision was made for an Hebrew servant, man or maid, as for a Gentile one:

he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver; that is, the owner of the ox shall pay so much to the masters of the servants for the loss they have sustained by his ox goring them; and Maimonides (r) observes, that"the ransom of servants, whether great or small, whether male or female, is fixed in the law, thirty shekels of good silver, whether the servant is worth a hundred pounds, or whether he is worth but a penny.''This was the price our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was sold at; see Gill on Mat 26:15.

(r) Hilchot Niske Maimon, c. 11. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Bond man, &c., of any of those uncircumcised nations, (Jonathan) whom it was lawful to put to death; and hence their life was esteemed of less value. (Haydock) --- Sicles. Septuagint, "didrachmas." This was the price of a slave, for which our Saviour was sold: that of a free-man was double. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The half the freeman’s price. See Poole on "Mat 26:5".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant. Hitherto, the case of free persons only has been considered. But the accident might have happened to a slave. Where this was the case, the death of the ox was still made indispensable, and thus far the same sacredness was made to attach to the life of the slave and of the freeman. But, in lieu of a varying fine, the average price of a slave, thirty shekels of silver, was appointed to be paid in all cases, as a compensation to the master

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

אם עבד או אמה IF [AN OX SHALL THRUST] A MANSERVANT OR A MAIDSERVANT — Canaanitish servants (Mekhilta).

שלשים שקלים יתן HE SHALL GIVE THIRTY SHEKELS — This is the enactment of Scripture (and no reason is given) — the indemnity shall be thirty shekels whether the slave was worth a thousand zuz or was worth no more than one denar. A shekel weighs four gold coins, making half an ounce according to the correct weight of Cologne.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 13 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nâgach (“to gore”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word nâgach carries the sense “to gore.” How does it shape the verse?
Exodus 21:28 shares the word «to gore» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“ox” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יִגַּ֥ח» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 13 Hebrew ↔ 19 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“ox” occurs 2× in this single verse.
12 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 13 words in this verse.