burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
Parallel translations
- KJV Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
- BSB burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
- NKJV burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
- NASB burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
- NLT a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
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
The list of equivalences continues: burning for burning, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Justice is precise and proportionate.
Overview
Completing the talion formula, these terms ensure that compensation or penalty exactly answers the harm inflicted. The aim is fairness in judgment, neither too lenient nor too severe. Such exacting justice highlights humanity's debt before a holy God, a debt only Christ could fully pay on our behalf.
Cross-references & the web
No cross-references recorded for this verse.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 21:25 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.