Exo 21:32 | NETfull | STEP | If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.

Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner ^{▼▼ Heb “he”; the referent (the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.} must pay thirty shekels of silver, ^{▼▼ A shekel was a unit for measure by means of a scale. Both the weight and the value of a shekel of silver are hard to determine. “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11, 5 grams” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181). Over four hundred years earlier, Joseph was sold into Egypt for 20 shekels. The free Israelite citizen was worth about 50 shekels (Lev 27:3f.).} and the ox must be stoned. ^{▼▼ See further B. S. Jackson, “The Goring Ox Again [Ex. 21, 28–36],” JJP 18 (1974): 55-94.}