Matthew 5:38 known as the principle of "lex talionis", is an ancient statement of the principle of retributive punishment dating back to the Code of Hammurabi. This phrasing appears several times in the Old Testament at Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. This was a moderate rule compared with the blood feuds described in Genesis 4:23-24. The New Testament scholar R. T. France notes that by Jesus' era such punishments were no longer in practice, rather they had been replaced with fines judged to be of equal value to the damage caused. Thus, according to France, Jesus is not here condemning
Old Saxon Genesis of Satan employing a "hæleðhelm" or helm of disguise. Old Saxon Genesis Genesis is an Old Saxon Biblical poem recounting the story of the Book of Genesis, dating to the first half of the 9th century, three fragments of which are preserved in a manuscript in the Vatican Library, "Palatinus Latinus" 1447. It and the "Heliand", a heroic poem based on the New Testament, a fragment of which is also included in the same manuscript, constitute the only record of Old Saxon poetry. It is also the basis of the Anglo-Saxon poem known as "Genesis B", and Eduard Sievers postulated