If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother.
- KJV Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
- NKJV “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother.
- NASB “You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and avoid them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman.
- NLT “If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep or goat wandering away, don’t ignore your responsibility. Take it back to its owner.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
You must not ignore a fellow Israelite's straying ox or sheep but return it to him. Love for neighbor includes active care for his property.
Overview
This law applies the command to love one's neighbor to everyday situations of lost property. To hide yourself from the need is to fail in covenant love. Jesus extends this principle in His teaching, and the active concern for a brother's welfare reflects the heart of the gospel, in which God Himself seeks and restores those who have gone astray (Luke 15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 23:4–5If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
- Isa 58:7Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Ezek 34:16I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- Prov 24:11Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
- Deut 22:3–4And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.
- Luke 15:4–6“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
- Isa 8:17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
- 1 Pet 2:25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- Lev 20:4And if the people of the land ever hide their eyes and fail to put to death the man who gives one of his children to Molech,
- Jas 5:19–20My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
- Prov 28:27Whoever gives to the poor will not be in need, but he who hides his eyes will receive many curses.
- Luke 10:31–32Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
- Ezek 34:4You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
- Matt 15:24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
- Matt 18:12–13What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?
- Matt 10:6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 22:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.