21:17 ("Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death"). Alt claimed, though some scholars disagree, that the apodictic laws were a feature only found in Israelite codes. Scholars do, however, agree that the contrast between the apodictic and casuistic forms is a clue to how multiple sources of law were edited together into the Covenant Code, although there remain disagreements over the precise details.

The form and content of the code is similar to many other codes from the Near East of the second millennium