Exodus 21:1-6

Laws About Slaves

1 "Now these are the ¹rules that you shall set before them.

2 ²When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

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

5 But ³if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'

6 then his master shall bring him to ⁴God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

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.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 24:3; Deuteronomy 4:14; Deuteronomy 6:1
• 2. Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14; See Leviticus 25:39-41
• 3. Deuteronomy 15:16, 17
• 4. [Psalms 82:6; John 10:34, 35]