Exodus 21:1-6

1 And these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

2 If thou buy a Hebrew bondman, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

3 If he came in alone, he shall go out alone: if he had a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone.

5 But if the bondman shall say distinctly, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free;

6 then his master shall bring him before the judges, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman for ever.

Exodus 21:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 21

In this, and the two following chapters, are delivered various laws and precepts, partly of a moral, and partly of a religious, but chiefly of a civil nature, respecting the commonwealth of Israel, and its political good. This chapter treats of servants, and laws relating to them; to menservants, how long they shall serve, and what is to be done to those who are desirous of staying with their masters after their time is up, Ex 21:1-6, to maidservants, and especially betrothed ones, either to a father or a son, Ex 21:7-11, likewise it contains laws concerning the slaughter of men, whether with design or unawares, Ex 21:12-14, and concerning the ill usage of parents, Ex 21:15,17, and man stealing, Ex 21:16 and of mischief that comes by men's quarrelling and fighting, Ex 21:18,19 and by smiting a man or maidservant, Ex 21:20,21,26,27, to a woman with child, that is, by means of men's striving and contending with each other, Ex 21:22-25 and of damages that come by oxen, or to them, Ex 21:28-36.

Footnotes

• [a]. Fixed ordinances.
• [b]. Lit. 'with his body.'
• [c]. Lit. elohim: so ch. 22.8,9, &c. See John 10.34,35, and Ps. 82.1,6.