There is no single ratio of restitution mandated by the Bible in all instances of theft. However, do any of the verses about these ratios contradict each other by dealing with the same scenario but prescribing differing penalties? Specifically, the focus here will be on Exodus 22:7-9 and Leviticus 6:1-5, as the title mentions, though other relevant verses will be acknowledged. Each of these two passages does address the situation of one person giving another their belongings for temporary protection or convenience, with the latter party stealing these items for themself in Leviticus 6:1-5 (if they did not steal in one of the other listed ways) and potentially having done so in Exodus 22:7-9. Yet, the restitution required is not an equal amount. Here is each set of verses:
Exodus 22:7-9—"'If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person's property. In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, "This is mine," both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to the other.'"
Leviticus 6:1-5—"The Lord said to Moses: 'If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering."'"
Exodus 22:7-9 is about the Biblically just punishment for theft in which the thief is caught or that comes to light when two parties disputing about who owns what property go before the judges. In these cases, like the situation where a thief is caught with stolen animals in their possession (Exodus 22:4), full restitution must be made for the stolen animal/item and a 100% financial penalty is added. In contrast, if the animal (or perhaps other property) is killed or sold so that the thief cannot retrieve it, the mandated restitution is at a ratio of four or five times the original value (Exodus 22:1). This is because the property is destroyed or beyond the reach of likely recovery. Thus, the punishment is economically harsher.
The scope of Leviticus 6:1-5 (and Numbers 5:5-10) is about all other cases of physical property theft. That is, the thief in Leviticus 6:1-5 and Numbers 5:5-10 is not caught. He or she divulges their sin and makes restitution because they want to make amends for their error without social compulsion. There is no indefinite attempt to hide the stolen object or keep the incident a secret on their part. In their case, justice is making restitution to the victim—or to the victim's family if they are no longer alive, a detail Numbers 5 clarifies—at a ratio of the full value of the stolen/lost property plus only an additional fifth of that value. Of course, if the animal or item is still in their possession, returning it to the rightful owner satisfies the first part of this.
Far from being conflicting punishments for the same types of theft, the differing ratios are for different thefts or circumstances surrounding the way the sin comes to light. The fact that both Exodus 22:7-9 and Leviticus 6:1-5 prescribe restitution for stealing would not mean it would be logically impossible for two contradictory ratios of restitution to be justice at once. Logic is true in itself, and so the philosophy proposed by the Torah would have to be consistent with logical axioms and other logical necessities to even be possibly true. What is often the Torah's format of proclaiming case laws in miscellaneous order, with the same general class of sins and their punishments being addressed in multiple places, might obscure this consistency with logic, but these theft laws do not contradict each other or reason itself.
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