Exodus 21:1-11

1 And these the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

2 If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee, and in the seventh year he shall go forth free for nothing.

3 If he should have come in alone, he shall also go forth alone; and if his wife should have gone in together with him, his wife also shall go out.

4 Moreover, if his master give him a wife, and she have him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be his master's; and he shall go forth alone.

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.

10 And if he take another to himself, he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship .

11 And if he will not do these three things to her, she shall go out free without money.

Exodus 21:1-11 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]. do not run away.
• [b]. who has.