Tooth

The tooth figures most prominently in Scripture through the lex talionis formula "tooth for tooth" (Ex. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21), which established proportionate justice in Mosaic law. The principle limited revenge to exact equivalence — no more than the injury received — representing a significant moral advance over the unlimited vengeance of ancient tribal custom. The same principle governed injuries to slaves: if a master struck out a servant's tooth, the slave was to be freed (Ex. 21:27).

Jesus explicitly referenced and reinterpreted the tooth-for-tooth principle in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:38-39), calling his disciples to non-retaliation as a higher ethic that does not abolish the law's concern for justice but transforms the personal response to injury. "Gnashing of teeth" appears in Scripture as a vivid expression of rage (Acts 7:54; Job 16:9) and of the anguish and fury of the condemned (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13), making the tooth one of the more theologically layered anatomical references in the Bible.