Leviticus 24:17-21

24:17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, ¹  he must be put to death. 24:18 One who beats an animal to death ²  must make restitution for it, life for life. ³  24:19 If a man inflicts an injury on ⁴  his fellow citizen, ⁵  just as he has done it must be done to him – 24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth – just as he inflicts an injury on another person ⁶  that same injury ⁷  must be inflicted on him. 24:21 One who beats an animal to death ⁸  must make restitution for it, but ⁹  one who beats a person to death must be put to death.

[24:17]  ¹ tn Heb “And if a man strikes any soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] of mankind.” The idiom seems to derive from the idea of striking a fatal blow to the very “life” (literally, “soul”) of a human being, not just landing a blow on their body (HALOT 698 s.v. נכה hif.2). On the difficult of the meaning and significance of the term נֶפֶשׁ see the notes on Lev 17:10-11.

[24:18]  ² tn Heb “And one who strikes a soul of an animal.”

[24:18]  ³ tn Heb “soul under soul.” Cf. KJV “beast for beast”; NCV “must give…another animal to take its place.”

[24:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “gives a flaw in”; KJV, ASV “cause a blemish in.”

[24:19]  ⁵ tn Or “neighbor” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); TEV, NLT “another person.”

[24:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the man [אָדָם, ’adam].”

[24:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “just as he inflicts an injury…it must be inflicted on him.” The referent (“that same injury”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:21]  ⁸ sn See the note on v. 18 above.

[24:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and,” but here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is adversative, contrasting the consequences of beating an animal to death with those of beating a person to death.