Exodus 21:21

21 Yet if he survives a day or two days, he will not be avenged, because he is his money.

Exodus 21:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:21

Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two
And does not die immediately, or the same day, but lives twenty four hours, as the Jewish writers interpret it; so Abendana ^F24 explains the phrase, "a day or two";

``a day which is as two days, and they are twenty four hours from time to time,''

that is, from the time he was smitten to the time of his continuance; and so it is elsewhere explained ^F25 by a day we understand a day, which is like two days, that is, from time to time, the meaning of which is, from a certain time in one day to the same in another:

he shall not be punished;
that is, with death;

for he [is] his money;
is bought with his money, and is good as money, and therefore it is a loss sufficient to him to lose him; and it may be reasonably thought he did not smite his servant with an intention to kill him, since he himself is the loser by it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
F25 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Zabim, c. 2. sect. 3.

Exodus 21:21 In-Context

19 if he stands and walks about in the outside on his staff, the striker will be unpunished; he will only pay for his inactivity {toward his full recovery}."

20 And if a man strikes his male slave or his female slave with the rod and he dies under his hand, he will surely be avenged.

21 Yet if he survives a day or two days, he will not be avenged, because he is his money.

22 " 'And if men fight and they injure a pregnant woman, and her children go out and there is not serious injury, he will surely be fined as the woman's husband demands concerning him {and as the judges determine}.

23 And if there is serious injury, you will give life in place of life,

Footnotes

• [a] Or "property"; literally "his silver"