Exodus 22:2
If a thief be found breaking open a house or undermining it, and be wounded so as to die: he that slew him shall not be guilty of blood.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Si effringens fur domum sive suffodiens fuerit inventus, et accepto vulnere mortuus fuerit, percussor non erit reus sanguinis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐὰν δὲ ἐν τῷ διορύγματι εὑρεθῇ ὁ κλέπτης καὶ πληγεὶς ἀποθάνῃ, οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ φόνος·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Exodus 22:1
- אִם בַּמַּחְתֶּ֛רֶת יִמָּצֵ֥א הַגַּנָּ֖ב וְהֻכָּ֣ה וָמֵ֑ת אֵ֥ין ל֖וֹ דָּמִֽים
Haydock's commentary
Blood. The reason is, because it could not easily be known whether the thief had not a design upon the life of the people in the house; and therefore, the law gave them authority to defend themselves. But they were not authorized to kill the thief designedly. The laws of Athens and of Rome, permitted nocturnal robbers to be slain, at least when they came armed. (Plato, de leg. ix. &c.) To defend our goods or honour, by killing the aggressor, is contrary to justice and reason. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter III. The rule given about not seeking one's own gain is established, first by the examples of Christ, next by the meaning of the word, and lastly by the very form and uses of our limbs. Wherefore the writer shows what a crime it is to deprive another of what is useful, since the law of nature as well as the divine law is broken by such wickedness. Further, by its means we also lose that gift which makes us superior to other living creatures; and lastly, through it civil laws are abused and treated with the greatest contempt
20. Why, the very law of the Lord teaches us that this rule must be observed, so that we may never deprive another of anything for the sake of our own advantage. For it says: “Remove not the bounds which thy fathers have set.” It bids a neighbour’s ox to be brought back if found wandering. It orders a thief to be put to death. It forbids the labourer to be deprived of his hire, and orders money to be returned without usury. It is a mark of kindly feeling to help him who has nothing, but it is a sign of a hard nature to extort more than one has given. …