Exodus 23:4
If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.
Open Exodus 23:4 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Si occurreris bovi inimici tui, aut asino erranti, reduc ad eum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ἐὰν δὲ συναντήσῃς τῷ βοὶ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ σου ἢ τῷ ὑποζυγίῳ αὐτοῦ πλανωμένοις, ἀποστρέψας ἀποδώσεις αὐτῷ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּ֣י תִפְגַּ֞ע שׁ֧וֹר אֹֽיִבְךָ֛ א֥וֹ חֲמֹר֖וֹ תֹּעֶ֑ה הָשֵׁ֥ב תְּשִׁיבֶ֖נּוּ לֽוֹ
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory Thaumaturgus Canonical Epistle, Canon IV
Let no one deceive himself, nor put forward the pretext of having found such property. For it is not lawful, even for a man who has found anything, to aggrandize himself by it. For Deuteronomy says: “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray in the way, and pay no heed to them; but thou shalt in any wise bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother come not nigh thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring them together, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek after them, and thou shalt restore them to him again. And in like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment, and so shalt thou do with all lost things of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou mayest find.” Thus much in Deuteronomy. …
St John Chrysostom Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily XLIV
But if thou sayest, “What? hath he no understanding?” thou shalt hear from me that he hath not: drunken as he is with his passion. For if in the heathen courts of justice, those who are injured must not speak for themselves while glowing with wrath; (although there be no fault in that kind of sympathy;) how much more those whom evil habit holds in subjection. Wherefore I say that manifold as his wisdom may be, he hath not his mind awake. For what can be wiser than David, the man who said, “The dark and the hidden things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made known unto me?” ( Ps. li. 6 . ap. LXX. l. 6.) But when he looked on the wife of the soldier with unjust eyes, then according to what he himself said ( Ps. cvii. 27 .) of those who sail on the raging sea, “all his wisdom was swallowed up;” and he stood in need of others to correct him, and did not even perceive amidst what evils he was. …
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. …