Exodus 21:15

15 qui percusserit patrem suum et matrem morte moriatur

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 qui autem non est insidiatus sed Deus illum tradidit in manu eius constituam tibi locum quo fugere debeat

14 si quis de industria occiderit proximum suum et per insidias ab altari meo evelles eum ut moriatur

15 qui percusserit patrem suum et matrem morte moriatur

16 qui furatus fuerit hominem et vendiderit eum convictus noxae morte moriatur

17 qui maledixerit patri suo et matri morte moriatur