If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
Parallel translations
- WEB If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.
- BSB If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.
- NKJV If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.
- NASB If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no guilt for bloodshed on his account.
- NLT “If a thief is caught in the act of breaking into a house and is struck and killed in the process, the person who killed the thief is not guilty of murder.
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
If a thief breaking in at night is struck and killed, there is no bloodguilt. Defending one's household in the dark, when intent is unclear, is permitted.
Overview
This law recognizes the right of self-defense against a nighttime intruder whose purposes cannot be known. It balances protection of life and home with the value of even the offender's life, as the next verse shows. The careful weighing of guilt here reflects God's just discernment of intent and circumstance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 24:43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
- Matt 6:19–20Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
- Num 35:27And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:
- Joel 2:9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
- Job 24:14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
- Job 30:5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
- 1 Th 5:2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
- Hos 7:1When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.
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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 22:2 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.