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Exodus 21

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Laws Concerning Hebrew Servants 1–6

1
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. ​
2
If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ​
3
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4
If his master give him a wife and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5
But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
6
then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. ​

Laws Concerning Female Servants 7–11

7
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. ​
8
If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9
And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. ​
11
And if he do not these three things unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.

Laws of Capital Offenses 12–21

12
He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death. ​
13
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. ​
14
And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, 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 contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed;
19
if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20
And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall surely be punished. ​
21
Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money. ​

Laws Concerning Personal Injury 22–27

22
And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. ​
23
But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life, ​
24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ​
25
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26
And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, and destroy it; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. ​
27
And if he smite out his man-servant’s tooth, or his maid-servant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

Laws Concerning Animal Liability and Property 28–36

28
And if an ox gore a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. ​
29
But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. ​
30
If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. ​
31
Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
32
If the ox gore a man-servant or a maid-servant, there shall be given unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. ​
33
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,
34
the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner thereof, and the dead beast shall be his.
35
And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, so that it dieth, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide.
36
Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Exodus 21

Verse 1

the judgments — Mishpat, a legal ruling. These follow the ten 'words' of ch.20, and Moses brings both to the people: 'all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments' (Ex 24:3). They are given to be done in the land: 'statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land' (Deut 4:14).

Verse 2

an Hebrew servant — 'Servant' is ebed, a bondservant, bought (qanah) for six years; he goes out 'free' (chophshi) in the seventh, the six-and-seven of the sabbath. Deut 15:13–14 adds that he is not to leave 'empty' but be furnished 'liberally' from flock, floor and winepress. Jer 34:14 recalls the law: 'At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew.'

Verse 6

unto the judges — 'Judges' is elohim, the word usually rendered 'God'; the KJV so renders it where men decide in God's name (also Ex 22:8–9). The door and doorpost are the household's own threshold. The servant's choice is spoken in v.5, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children'; Deut 15:16 adds 'because he loveth thee and thine house'.

Verse 7

she shall not go out as the menservants do — 'Maidservant' is amah, a female bondservant. Her case differs from the man's of v.2, and vv.8–9 show why: she is to be 'betrothed' to the master or to his son. Failing that she is to be 'redeemed', and v.11 gives her freedom 'without money' if the three provisions of v.10 are withheld.

Verse 10

her duty of marriage — Onah occurs only here in Scripture. The three provisions are food, raiment and the marriage-right, and if the master fails 'these three' she goes out free (v.11). Paul states the same duty on both sides: 'Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband' (1 Cor 7:3).

Verse 12

shall be surely put to death — The verb is doubled in Hebrew (mut yumat, 'dying he shall die'). The ground was given to Noah: 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man' (Gen 9:6). Verses 13–14 separate the killing that was not planned from the killing that was.

Verse 13

God deliver him into his hand — Anah, to cause to meet or befall, so the death comes as an event and not as a plan. For such a slayer the LORD says, 'I will appoint thee a place'. Israel later names them: 'ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares' (Num 35:11).

Verse 14

from mine altar — 'Presumptuously' is zid, the verb of Ex 18:11, 'dealt proudly'; 'guile' is ormah, craft. The altar gives this man no hold. Joab caught 'hold on the horns of the altar', and Solomon, saying 'fall upon him', had him killed there, to 'take away the innocent blood' (1 Kgs 2:28–31).

Verse 16

stealeth a man, and selleth him — Deut 24:7 repeats the law for 'any of his brethren of the children of Israel', one who 'maketh merchandise of him'. Joseph says of himself, 'I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews' (Gen 40:15). Paul lists 'menstealers' among those contrary to sound doctrine (1 Tim 1:10).

Verse 17

curseth his father, or his mother — Qalal, to make light of, is the opposite of 'Honour thy father and thy mother' (Ex 20:12), where the verb is kabad, to give weight. The law is repeated in Lev 20:9, and Christ cites it: 'He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death' (Matt 15:4).

Verse 20

he shall be surely punished — Naqam, the verb of vengeance: of Cain, 'vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold' (Gen 4:15). A servant who dies 'under his hand' from a blow with a rod is a death that is avenged. In v.21 the same verb is negated for the servant who lingers 'a day or two'.

Verse 21

he is his money — Literally 'his silver' (keseph): the servant was acquired by purchase. The verse divides the master who strikes a servant dead 'under his hand' (v.20) from one whose servant survives a day or two. Vv.26–27 add the case of lasting injury, where the servant goes free.

Verse 22

her fruit depart from her — 'Fruit' is yeled, a child, and 'depart' is yatsa, to go out. 'Mischief' (ason, harm) occurs in five verses only: here, v.23, and of Jacob's fear for Benjamin (Gen 42:4, 38; 44:29). 'Punished' is anash, to fine, at the husband's demand and 'as the judges determine'.

Verse 23

life for life — 'Life' is nephesh, the living person, and 'give' (nathan) is the verb of payment: the penalty answers the harm done, one for one. The series runs through v.25 and returns in Deut 19:21, 'life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot'.

Verse 24

Eye for eye — The series is repeated in Lev 24:19–20, 'Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again', and in Deut 19:21. Christ quotes the line in the Sermon on the Mount: 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (Matt 5:38).

Verse 26

for his eye's sake — 'Free' is chophshi, the word of v.2: a blow that destroys (shachath) the eye gives at once the freedom the seventh year would. Verse 27 gives the same for a tooth. The servant maimed by his master does not wait out his term.

Verse 28

the ox shall be surely stoned — The animal that kills is stoned and its flesh is not eaten. 'Quit' is naqiy, innocent, free of guilt, which is said of the owner who had no warning. The ground goes back to Noah: 'at the hand of every beast will I require it' (Gen 9:5). Vv.29–30 deal with an owner who was warned.

Verse 29

it hath been testified to his owner — 'Testified' is ud, to bear witness, the verb of 'charge' in Ex 19:21, so the warning was formal. 'In time past' is literally 'yesterday and the day before'. The owner who 'hath not kept him in' is put to death with his ox, unless the ransom of v.30 is laid on him.

Verse 30

the ransom of his life — 'A sum of money' is kopher, a price that covers, from the root of atonement; 'ransom' is pidyon, a redemption price. For a murderer no such payment is allowed: 'ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer' (Num 35:31), where 'satisfaction' is the same word kopher.

Verse 32

thirty shekels of silver — The price paid to the servant's master when an ox kills a manservant or maidservant. The same sum, 'thirty pieces of silver', is weighed out as the Shepherd's price in Zech 11:12–13, and it is the sum on which Judas agreed: 'they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver' (Matt 26:15).