Question
Does the Bible say "an eye for an eye"? What does it mean?
Analysis
The three places it appears
| Passage | The case | Who applies it |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus 21:22 to Exodus 21:25 | a pregnant woman injured when men are fighting | the court: "as the court allows" (Exodus 21:22, BSB) |
| Leviticus 24:19 to Leviticus 24:22 | anyone who injures a neighbor | one law for everyone: "the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native" (Leviticus 24:22, BSB) |
| Deuteronomy 19:15 to Deuteronomy 19:21 | a false witness in court | the judges: "The judges shall investigate thoroughly" (Deuteronomy 19:18, BSB) |
"eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot," (Exodus 21:24, BSB)
The next verses in Exodus
Right after the formula, Exodus gives a case where the loss of an eye is answered with freedom, not with an eye: "If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye." (Exodus 21:26, BSB) The next verse says the same for a tooth (Exodus 21:27).
The same Law forbids private revenge
"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18, BSB)
Proverbs tells the reader not to promise to avenge an evil, but to wait on the LORD (Proverbs 20:22). Paul writes to the church in Rome: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil." (Romans 12:17, BSB), and leaves vengeance to God (Romans 12:19).
How Jesus uses it
"You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;" (Matthew 5:38-39, BSB)
How later Jewish law handled an injured eye
The Mishnah, a Jewish law code compiled about AD 200, some 170 years after Jesus, handles injuries with payment. Its chapter on injuries begins: "He who wounds his fellow is liable to compensate him on five counts: for injury, for pain, for healing, for loss of income and for indignity." (Mishnah Bava Kamma 8:1, translated by Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit, via Sefaria, CC BY) It then explains the first count with a blinded eye: "If he blinded his fellow’s eye, cut off his hand or broke his foot, [his fellow] is looked upon as if he was a slave to be sold in the market and they assess how much he was worth and how much he is worth." (Mishnah Bava Kamma 8:1, Kulp)
The Law also rules out one kind of payment: "You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die" (Numbers 35:31, BSB).
Where readers differ
| View | The reading |
|---|---|
| A literal penalty | The words mean what they say: a court could require the same injury in return. Leviticus adds: "Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him." (Leviticus 24:20, BSB) |
| A limit on punishment | The formula caps a penalty at the size of the harm: no more than an eye for an eye, decided by judges, not by a feud. |
| A standard for payment | The formula sets the value of a loss, and payment settled it. Readers point to the servant freed for an eye (Exodus 21:26), to the ransom ban that names murder only (Numbers 35:31), and to later Jewish law (the Mishnah, above). |
On Jesus' words, readers also differ: some read Matthew 5:38-42 as teaching about a person's own response, leaving the courts in place; others read it as setting retaliation aside more widely.
Common ground
Across the views: in the Law the formula belongs to judges and courts (Exodus 21:22; Deuteronomy 19:18), the same Law forbids private revenge (Leviticus 19:18), and Jesus teaches His followers not to strike back (Matthew 5:39).