Exodus 21:1-8

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.

Exodus 21:1-8 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.