Exodus21
American Standard Version · Public Domain
1Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
2If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
3If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
6then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
7And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.
8If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
11And if he do not these three things unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.
12He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death.
13And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
14And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
15And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
16And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
18And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed;
19if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall surely be punished.
21Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
22And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, and destroy it; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27And if he smite out his man-servant’s tooth, or his maid-servant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
28And if an ox gore a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
29But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
30If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
31Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
32If the ox gore a man-servant or a maid-servant, there shall be given unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,
34the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner thereof, and the dead beast shall be his.
35And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, so that it dieth, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide.
36Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Exodus 21.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Laws respecting servants. (1–11). Judicial laws. (12–21). Judicial laws. (22–36).
vv1-11
The laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they differ from our times and customs, nor are they binding on us, yet they explain the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. The servant, in the state of servitude, was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, which man is brought into by robbing God of his glory, by the transgression of his precepts. Likewise in being made free, he was an emblem of that liberty wherewith Christ, the Son of God, makes free from bondage his people, who are free indeed; and made so freely, without money and without price, of free grace.
vv12-21
God, who by his providence gives and maintains life, by his law protects it. A wilful murderer shall be taken even from God's altar. But God provided cities of refuge to protect those whose unhappiness it was, and not their fault, to cause the death of another; for such as by accident, when a man is doing a lawful act, without intent of hurt, happens to kill another. Let children hear the sentence of God's word upon the ungrateful and disobedient; and remember that God will certainly requite it, if they have ever cursed their parents, even in their hearts, or have lifted up their hands against them, except they repent, and flee for refuge to the Saviour. And let parents hence learn to be very careful in training up their children, setting them a good example, especially in the government of their passions, and in praying for them; taking heed not to provoke them to wrath. Through poverty the Israelites sometimes sold themselves or their children; magistrates sold some persons for their crimes, and creditors were in some cases allowed to sell their debtors who could not pay. But “man-stealing,” the object of which is to force another into slavery, is ranked in the New Testament with the greatest crimes. Care is here taken, that satisfaction be made for hurt done to a person, though death do not follow. The gospel teaches masters to forbear, and to moderate threatenings, Eph 6:9, considering with Job, What shall I do, when God riseth up? Job 31:13, 14.
vv22-36
The cases here mentioned give rules of justice then, and still in use, for deciding similar matters. We are taught by these laws, that we must be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly. If we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make it good, and be desirous that nobody may lose by us.
Key Words
אֵלֶּה: these or those
מִשְׁפָּט: properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant's right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style
שׂוּם: to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
קָנָה: to erect, i.e. create; by extension, to procure, especially by purchase (causatively, sell); by implication to own
עִבְרִי: an Eberite (i.e. Hebrew) or descendant of Eber
עֶבֶד: a servant
עָבַד: to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.
שֵׁשׁ: six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand); as ord. sixth
שָׁנֶה: a year (as a revolution of time)
Cross References
Exodus 21Parallels the six-year limit and release laws for Hebrew servants.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Jesus contrasts the civil law of retaliation (lex talionis) with personal non-resistance.
Supported by JFB
Expands on circumstances of a poor Israelite selling himself into servitude.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels the law of boring a servant's ear to signify lifelong service.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Messianic allusion to the opened/bored ear of the obedient servant.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
God demands a reckoning for human life even from beasts, establishing sanctity of human blood.
Supported by JFB
Thirty shekels of silver is set as the price of a gored servant, shadowing Christ's betrayal.
Judas betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave under Mosaic law.
Defines accidental manslaughter where God delivered the victim into his hand.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Historical execution of Joab who fled to the altar for a presumptuous murder.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Distinguishes premeditated murder from manslaughter, requiring no pity for the guilty.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel prohibition against kidnapping and selling an Israelite brother into slavery.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jesus quotes this verse directly to condemn Pharisaic evasion of parental honor.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explicit penal law prescribing death for cursing father or mother.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Reiterates the judicial principle of life for life, eye for eye, without pity.
Codifies the standard of physical reciprocity: breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
Job recognizes the fundamental human rights of servants, echoing laws protecting them from abuse.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Paul admonishes masters to treat servants justly, reflecting the spiritual intent of Exodic protection.
Supported by Matthew Henry
New Testament allusion to selling debtors and their families to pay debt.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Historical citation of Israel's failure to release Hebrew servants after six years.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The foundational covenant decree establishing the death penalty for murder.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament parallel ranking 'menstealers' (kidnappers) among the lawless.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Job’s personal standard of treating servants righteously before God.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Defines servants as an inheritance, explaining the phrase 'he is his money' in Mosaic context.
Unlike intentional murder, a ransom could be accepted for a death caused by a goring ox.
Supported by JFB
Connects directly to the preceding law of punishing masters who beat servants to death.
Prescribes that animals involved in gross violations of moral order must be put to death.
Parallel case of civil liability for damage caused by negligence (fire spreading vs. open pit).
Mandates safety features on a roof, demonstrating the general principle of liability for negligence.
Proverbial usage of the pit warning that whoever digs one may fall into it.