Exodus 22:2-3

22:2 “If a thief is caught ¹  breaking in ²  and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. ³  22:3 If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief ⁴  must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

Ezekiel 12:5-7

12:5 While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. 12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. ⁵  You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground ⁶  because I have made you an object lesson ⁷  to the house of Israel.”

12:7 So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage ⁸  on my shoulder while they watched.

Ezekiel 12:12

12:12 “The prince ⁹  who is among them will raise his belongings ¹⁰  onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He ¹¹  will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.

Matthew 24:43

24:43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief ¹²  was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.

¹ tn Heb “found” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

² tn The word בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת (bammakhteret) means “digging through” the walls of a house (usually made of mud bricks). The verb is used only a few times and has the meaning of dig in (as into houses) or row hard (as in Jonah 1:13).

³ tn The text has “there is not to him bloods.” When the word “blood” is put in the plural, it refers to bloodshed, or the price of blood that is shed, i.e., blood guiltiness.

⁴ tn The words “a thief” have been added for clarification. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 224) thinks that these lines are out of order, since some of them deal with killing the thief and then others with the thief making restitution, but rearranging the clauses is not a necessary way to bring clarity to the paragraph. The idea here would be that any thief caught alive would pay restitution.

⁵ tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.

⁶ tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

⁷ sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.

⁸ tn The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.

⁹ sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.

¹⁰ tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.

¹¹ tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”

¹² sn On Jesus pictured as a returning thief, see 1 Thess 5:2, 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.