Exodus 21:15

15 Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.

Exodus 21:15 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:15

And he that smiteth his father or his mother
With his fist, or with a stick, or cane, or such thing, though they died not with the blow, yet it occasioned any wound, or caused a bruise, or the part smitten black and blue, or left any print of the blow; for, as Jarchi says, the party was not guilty, less by smiting there was a bruise, or weal, made, or any mark or scar: but if so it was, then he

shall be surely put to death;
the Targum of Jonathan adds, with the suffocation of a napkin; and so Jarchi says with strangling; the manner of which was this, the person was sunk into a dunghill up to his knees, and two persons girt his neck with a napkin or towel until he expired. This crime was made capital, to show the heinousness of it, how detestable it was to God, and in order to deter from it.

Exodus 21:15 In-Context

13 But as for him that did it not willingly, but God delivered him into his hands, I will give thee a place whither the slayer may flee.

14 And if any one lie in wait for his neighbour to slay him by craft, and he go for refuge, thou shalt take him from my altar to put him to death.

15 Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.

16 He that reviles his father or his mother shall surely die.

17 Whosoever shall steal one of the children of Israel, and prevail over him and sell him, and he be found with him, let him certainly die.