Exodus21
New American Standard
1“Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:
2“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.
3If he comes alone, he shall leave alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall leave with him.
4If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave alone.
5But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not leave as a free man,’
6then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
7“Now if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.
8If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people, because of his unfairness to her.
9And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.
10If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.
11But if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go free for nothing, without payment of money.
12“He who strikes someone so that he dies shall certainly be put to death.
13Yet if he did not lie in wait for him, but God caused him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.
14If, however, someone is enraged against his neighbor, so as to kill him in a cunning way, you are to take him even from My altar, to be put to death.
15“And one who strikes his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.
16“Now one who kidnaps someone, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall certainly be put to death.
17“And one who curses his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.
18“Now if people have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
19if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall pay for his care until he is completely healed.
20“And if someone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies at his hand, he shall be punished.
21If, however, the slave survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for the slave is his property.
22“Now if people struggle with each other and strike a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, but there is no injury, the guilty person shall certainly be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.
23But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,
24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
26“And if someone strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free on account of the eye.
27And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free on account of the tooth.
28“Now if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall certainly be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.
29If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
30If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.
31Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
32If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33“Now if someone opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.
35“And if someone’s ox injures another’s ox so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its proceeds equally; and they shall also divide the dead ox.
36Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he must make restitution of ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.
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.