Exodus 21:15

15 "Whoever attacks his father or mother must be 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 If it was not premeditated but an act of God, then I will designate for you a place to which he can flee.

14 But if someone willfully kills another after deliberate planning, you are to take him even from my altar and put him to death.

15 "Whoever attacks his father or mother must be put to death.

16 "Whoever kidnaps someone must be put to death, regardless of whether he has already sold him or the person is found still in his possession.

17 "Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death.