The main law prescribes capital punishment for killing a human being (21:12). It is modified immediately by a distinction between premeditated murder and unpremeditated homicide (21:13–14). The description of the latter as having come about by an act of God should not be taken to mean that God caused the action. Instead, it identifies the circumstances leading to the killing as such that no human could have planned or predicted them. Our own legal language has adopted this usage.