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Interestingly enough, when I read the Jewish versions, it is an entirely different concept.

1. If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dieth, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him.

2 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him--he shall make restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

3 If the theft be found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall pay double.


The way I understand the above, if the thief is killed, then his family owes nothing (that is what was meant by bloodguiltiness). If the sun rises on him, the thief either makes restitution or becomes a slave. And if he is stealing a live animal, the restitution is double the value of the animal.

I included all three lines to because I think it makes the entire concept more clear. Sorry, I cannot read the Hebrew anymore, so I went with a translation from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... dus22.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . I point this out because it is in the translations that we get the different meanings. I do not know if this translation is any more correct than the King James or NIV versions.