Exodus 21:16

16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death .

Exodus 21:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:16

And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him
One of the children of Israel, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so the Septuagint version: but though this law was given to the Israelites primarily, yet was made for men stealers in general, as the apostle observes, who plainly has reference to it, ( 1 Timothy 1:9 1 Timothy 1:10 ) :

or if he be found in his hand;
before the selling of him, as Jarchi notes, since he stole him in order to sell him, he was guilty of death, as follows:

he shall surely be put to death;
with strangling, as the same Jewish writer remarks, as on the preceding verse; and Jarchi sets it down as a rule, that all death in the law, simply expressed, is strangling.

Exodus 21:16 In-Context

14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die .

15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death .

16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death .

17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death .

18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: