Exo 22:2 | NETfull | STEP | “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him.

Exodus 22:2

2 “If a thief is caught ^{▼▼ Heb “found” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).} breaking in ^{▼▼ 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).} and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. ^{▼▼ 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.} ^{▼▼ This law focuses on what is reasonable defense against burglary. If someone killed a thief who was breaking in during the night, he was not charged because he would not have known it was just a thief, but if it happened during the day, he was guilty of a crime, on the assumption that in daylight the thief posed no threat to the homeowner’s life and could be stopped and made to pay restitution.}