Exodus 21:7

7 And if any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maid-servants depart.

Exodus 21:7 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:7

And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant
That is, if an Israelite, as the Targum of Jonathan, sells his little daughter, as the same Targum, and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra, one that is under age, that is not arrived to the age of twelve years and a day, and this through poverty; he not being able to support himself and his family, puts his daughter out to service, or rather sells her to be a servant:

she shall not go out as the menservants do;
that are sold, before described; or rather, according to the Targum,

``as the Canaanitish servants go out, who are made free, because of a tooth, or an eye, (the loss of them, ( Exodus 21:26 Exodus 21:27 ) ) but in the years of release, and with the signs (of puberty), and in the jubilee, and at the death of their masters, with redemption of silver,''

so Jarchi.

Exodus 21:7 In-Context

5 And if the servant should answer and say, I love my master and wife and children, I will not go away free;

6 his master shall bring him to the judgment-seat of God, and then shall he bring him to the door, —to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

7 And if any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maid-servants depart.

8 If she be not pleasing to her master, after she has betrothed herself to him, he shall let her go free; but he is not at liberty to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has trifled with her.

9 And if he should have betrothed her to his son, he shall do to her according to the right of daughters.