Exodus 21:33

21:33 “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,

Exodus 22:4

22:4 If the stolen item should in fact be found ¹  alive in his possession, ²  whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double. ³ 

Exodus 23:5

23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, ⁴  but be sure to help ⁵  him with it. ⁶ 

Exodus 34:20

34:20 Now the firstling ⁷  of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then break its neck. ⁸  You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons.

“No one will appear before me empty-handed. ⁹ 

¹ tn The construction uses a Niphal infinitive absolute and a Niphal imperfect: if it should indeed be found. Gesenius says that in such conditional clauses the infinitive absolute has less emphasis, but instead emphasizes the condition on which some consequence depends (see GKC 342-43 §113.o).

² tn Heb “in his hand.”

³ sn He must pay back one for what he took, and then one for the penalty – his loss as he was inflicting a loss on someone else.

¹ tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him” – refrain from leaving your enemy without help.

² tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (’azav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).

³ sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.

¹ tn Heb “and the one that opens [the womb of] the donkey.”

² sn See G. Brin, “The Firstling of Unclean Animals,” JQR 68 (1971): 1-15.

³ tn The form is the adverb “empty.”