“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.
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.
- BSB If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your 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.
- 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 23:4–5“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
- Isa 58:7Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
- Ezek 34:16I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.
- Prov 24:11Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!
- Deut 22:3–4So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost, and you have found. You may not hide yourself.
- Luke 15:4–6“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
- Isa 8:17I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
- 1 Pet 2:25For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- Lev 20:4If the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person, when he gives of his offspring to Molech, and don’t put him to death;
- Jas 5:19–20Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
- Prov 28:27One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.
- Luke 10:31–32By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
- Ezek 34:4You haven’t strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them.
- Matt 15:24But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
- Matt 18:12–13“What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
- Matt 10:6Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.