Texts in Conversation
Exodus 21 follows an ancient Near Eastern practice of “lex talionis,” limiting injuries to be repaid in exact proportion, such as eye for eye or tooth for tooth, to prevent excessive revenge. Proverbs 24 shows how later traditions interpreted this by discouraging any revenge at all.
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Exodus 21:23
Hebrew Bible
22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the one who hit her will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. 23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Proverbs 24:29
Hebrew Bible
27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready; afterward build your house. 28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will pay him back according to what he has done.” 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one who lacks sense. 31 I saw that thorns had grown up all over it; the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The purpose of the talion law was first of all to control the impulse to vengeance by subjecting it to the rule of law. It limits the scope of retaliation by making it proportional to the damage inflicted ... Following the talion may not qualify as exemplifying the golden rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. But at least it refrains from doing to others anything worse than what they did to you ..."
Collins, John J.
An Eye for an Eye - The Biblical Principle of Proportionality
(pp. 1-5) TheTorah.com, 2024
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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