Exodus 21:1-32

Laws About Slaves

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

2 ²When you buy a Hebrew slave, ^[a] 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.

7 “When a man ⁵sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her^[b] for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or ⁶her marital rights.

11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

12 ⁷“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

13 ⁸But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then ⁹I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, ¹⁰you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

16 ¹¹“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found ¹²in possession of him, shall be put to death.

17 ¹³“Whoever curses^[c] his father or his mother shall be put to death.

18 “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed,

19 then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

20 “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the ¹⁴slave is his money.

22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and ¹⁵he shall pay as the ¹⁶judges determine.

23 But if there is harm, ^[d] then you shall pay ¹⁷life for life,

24 ¹⁸eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.

27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

28 “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ¹⁹ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

30 If ²⁰a ransom is imposed on him, then ²¹he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

31 If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master ²²thirty shekels^[e] of silver, and ²³the ox shall be stoned.

Exodus 21:1-32 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. 21:1 ch. 24:3; Deut. 4:14; 6:1
• 2. 21:2 Deut. 15:12; Jer. 34:14; See Lev. 25:39-41
• 3. 21:5 Deut. 15:16, 17
• 4. 21:6 [Ps. 82:6; John 10:34, 35]
• 5. 21:7 Neh. 5:5
• 6. 21:10 1 Cor. 7:5
• 7. 21:12 Gen. 9:6; Lev. 24:17; Num. 35:30, 31; [Matt. 26:52]
• 8. 21:13 Deut. 19:4, 5; See Num. 35:22-25
• 9. 21:13 Num. 35:11; Deut. 4:41-43; 19:2, 3; See Josh. 20:2-9
• 10. 21:14 See 1 Kgs. 2:28-34
• 11. 21:16 Deut. 24:7; 1 Tim. 1:10
• 12. 21:16 ch. 22:4
• 13. 21:17 Lev. 20:9; Deut. 27:16; Cited Matt. 15:4; Mark 7:10; [Prov. 20:20; 30:11]
• 14. 21:21 [Lev. 25:45, 46]
• 15. 21:22 [Deut. 22:18, 19]
• 16. 21:22 [Job 31:11]
• 17. 21:23 Deut. 19:21
• 18. 21:24 Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21; Cited Matt. 5:38
• 19. 21:28 Gen. 9:5
• 20. 21:30 ch. 30:12; Num. 35:31, 32
• 21. 21:30 [See ver. 22 above]
• 22. 21:32 [Zech. 11:12, 13; Matt. 26:15]
• 23. 21:32 [See ver. 28 above]

Footnotes

• [a] 21:2 Or 'servant'; the Hebrew term '‘ebed' designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see Preface)
• [b] 21:8 Or 'so that he has not designated her'
• [c] 21:17 Or 'dishonors'; Septuagint 'reviles'
• [d] 21:23 Or 'so that her children come out and it is clear who was to blame, he shall be fined as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he alone shall pay. If it is unclear who was to blame . . .'
• [e] 21:32 A 'shekel' was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams