Common misinterpretations include viewing the verse as evidence of biblical patriarchy or gender discrimination due to its separate mention of sons and daughters, overlooking its intent to affirm equality in judgment; others impose modern animal rights ethics, criticizing the ox's execution as cruel without grasping its symbolic and practical role in atonement and preventing future harm, or detach it from the surrounding statutes on restitution to claim it devalues human life arbitrarily.
Exodus 21:31
King James Version (1769)
31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
This passage establishes equal justice in cases of an ox goring a child to death, applying the same judgment whether the victim is a son or daughter, which in the ancient Near Eastern context advanced the principle of gender equity by ensuring that female victims received identical legal protection and recompense as males under Mosaic law governing negligent animal owners.