Exodus 21:20
Hebrew Bible
19 and then if he gets up and walks about outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay for the injured person’s loss of time and see to it that he is fully healed. 20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished. 21 However, if the injured servant survives one or two days, the owner will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Onkelos Exodus 21:20
Targum
19 if he rise (again) and walk about upon his staff, he who strikes him shall be acquitted; only he shall make good his loss of labour, and defray the charge of the physician. 20 And when a man strikes his servant or his handmaid with a staff, and he dies under his hand, he will surely be judged. 21 But if he survive one day, or two, he shall not be judged, because he was his money.
Date: 100-200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Texts in Conversation
In the Hebrew version of Exodus 21:20, the death of a servant at the hands of an owner calls for the owner to be “avenged,” a term that implies personal retaliation. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos replaces this with more neutral language that avoids suggesting revenge outside of proper legal procedure. This reflects an interpretive choice to likely correlate the translation with later rabbinic views that emphasize judicial oversight rather than private retribution.
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Notes and References
"... Rather than the biblical 'he should surely be avenged.' Our translator avoids the notion that the Bible encourages personal revenge, without the disputants turning to the courts, as is explained in the Mekhilta and Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 52a) ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner
Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text
(p. 136) Gefen, 2006
* 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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