“... Other laws in LH correlate more closely to the subject matter of Exodus 22:13–14. LH 244–249 are concerned with the death or injury of rented animals. The renter does not need to pay a penalty in the case of death by a predator or a sickness: “If a man rents an ox or donkey, and in the open country a lion kills it, [the loss belongs] to its owner” (šumma awīlum alpam imēram īgurma ina ērim nēšum iddūkšu ana bēlīšuma; LH 244); “If a man rents an ox, and a god strikes and kills it, the man who rented the ox shall swear a divine oath and shall not be held liable” (šumma awīlum alpam īgurma ilum im
assuma imtūt awīlum ša alpam īguru nīš ilim izakkarma ūtaššar; LH 249). Payments are required if the renter kills or injures the animal by beating or carelessness (LH 245–248). In the case where the renter causes the animal’s death or serious injury, he only needs to restore a single animal of the same quality. CC’s laws are similar in that they require only the replacement of the animal, not multiple restitution as in cases of theft, as seen before. In short, it seems that we have here another case of crossreferencing. The sequential flow of topics in the latter part of Hammurabi’s laws (i.e., LH 268–271) raised the topic of animal rental for CC. These allowed CC to access the other laws on animal rental from LH 244–249. ...”