Matthew 5:38
New International Version
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

New Living Translation
“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

English Standard Version
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

Berean Standard Bible
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’

Berean Literal Bible
You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.'

King James Bible
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

New King James Version
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

New American Standard Bible
“You have heard that it was said, ‘EYE FOR EYE, and TOOTH FOR TOOTH.’

NASB 1995
“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’

NASB 1977
“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’

Legacy Standard Bible
“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’

Amplified Bible
“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH [punishment that fits the offense].’

Christian Standard Bible
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

American Standard Version
Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
You have heard that it was said, “An eye in exchange for an eye, and a tooth in exchange for a tooth.”

Contemporary English Version
You know you have been taught, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

Douay-Rheims Bible
You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

English Revised Version
Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

Good News Translation
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'

International Standard Version
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

Literal Standard Version
You heard that it was said: Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth;

Majority Standard Bible
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’

New American Bible
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

NET Bible
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

New Revised Standard Version
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

New Heart English Bible
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'

Webster's Bible Translation
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Weymouth New Testament
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.'

World English Bible
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

Young's Literal Translation
'Ye heard that it was said: Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Love Your Enemies
37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. 38You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ 39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;…

Cross References
Exodus 21:24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Leviticus 24:20
fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him.

Deuteronomy 19:21
You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Matthew 5:21
You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'Do not murder' and 'Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'

Matthew 5:27
You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'


Treasury of Scripture

You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

An eye.

Exodus 21:22-27
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine

Leviticus 24:19,20
And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; …

Deuteronomy 19:19
Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

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An Eye Heard Tooth
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An Eye Heard Tooth
Matthew 5
1. Jesus' sermon on the mount:
3. The Beattitudes;
13. the salt of the earth;
14. the light of the world.
17. He came to fulfill the law.
21. What it is to kill;
27. to commit adultery;
33. to swear.
38. He exhorts to forgive wrong,
43. to love our enemies;
48. and to labor after perfection.














(38) An eye for an eye.--Here again the scribes first took their stand on the letter, regardless of the aim and purpose, of the Law, and then expanded it in a wrong direction. As originally given, it was a check on the "wild justice" of revenge. It said, where the equilibrium of right had been disturbed by outrage, that the work of the judge was not to do more than restore the equilibrium, unless, as in the case of theft, some further penalty was necessary for the prevention of crime. It was, in its essence, a limit in both directions. Not less than the "eye for an eye," for that might lead to connivance in guilt; not more, for that would open a fresh score of wrong. The scribes in their popular casuistry made the rule one not of judicial action only, but of private retaliation; and it was thus made the sanction of the vindictive temper that forgives nothing.

Verses 38-48. - The two remaining examples of the current teaching of the Law are very closely connected together, and, in fact, our Lord's corrections of them are intermingled in Luke 6:27-36. Yet the subjects are really distinct. In the first (vers. 38-42) our Lord speaks of the reception of injuries, in the second (vers. 43-48) of the treatment of those who do them. Godet's remarks (in his summary of Luke 6:27-45) on the use made by St. Luke of these examples are especially instructive. "These last two antitheses, which terminate in Matthew in the lofty thought (ver. 48) of man being elevated by love to the perfection of God, furnish Luke with the leading idea of the discourse as he presents it, namely, charity as the law of the new life." Verses 38-42. - The reception of injuries. The Law inculcated that the injured should obtain from those who did the wrong exact compensation (on this being properly a command, not merely a permission, vide Mozley, 'Ruling Ideas,' etc., pp. 182, sqq.). Our Lord inculcates giving up of all in-sistance upon one's rights as an injured person, and entire submission to injuries, even as far as proffering the opportunity for fresh wrongs. Verse 38. - An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. No short phrase could more accurately describe the spirit of the Mosaic legislation. Offences against individuals were to be punished by the injured individual receiving back, as it were, the exact compensation from him who had injured him. While this was originally observed literally, it was in Mishnic times (and probably in the time of our Lord) softened to payment of money (vide Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.'). The phrase comes three times in the Pentateuch (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21). Notice:

(1) The LXX. has the accusative in each case, although only in the first does a verb precede. Probably the expression had already become proverbial in Greek even before the translation of the LXX.

(2) The Hebrew of Deuteronomy 19:21 is slightly different from that of the other two passages, and as the preposition there used (ב) is not so necessarily rendered by ἀντί, that passage is perhaps the least likely of the three to have been in our Lord's mind now. It seems likely, however, that he was not thinking of any one of the three passages in particular. The words served him as a summary of the Law in this respect.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
You have heard
Ἠκούσατε (Ēkousate)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 191: To hear, listen, comprehend by hearing; pass: is heard, reported. A primary verb; to hear.

that
ὅτι (hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

it was said,
ἐρρέθη (errethē)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2046: Probably a fuller form of rheo; an alternate for epo in certain tenses; to utter, i.e. Speak or say.

‘Eye
Ὀφθαλμὸν (Ophthalmon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3788: The eye; fig: the mind's eye. From optanomai; the eye; by implication, vision; figuratively, envy.

for
ἀντὶ (anti)
Preposition
Strong's 473: A primary particle; opposite, i.e. Instead or because of.

eye
ὀφθαλμοῦ (ophthalmou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3788: The eye; fig: the mind's eye. From optanomai; the eye; by implication, vision; figuratively, envy.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

tooth
ὀδόντα (odonta)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3599: A tooth. Perhaps from the base of esthio; a 'tooth'.

for
ἀντὶ (anti)
Preposition
Strong's 473: A primary particle; opposite, i.e. Instead or because of.

tooth.’
ὀδόντος (odontos)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3599: A tooth. Perhaps from the base of esthio; a 'tooth'.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said (Matt. Mat Mt)
Matthew 5:37
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