Exoduschapter 21
36 verses · BSBExodus book hub →
A.Laws for Hebrew Servantsvv. 1-11
1 “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. 3 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life. 7 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. 8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her. 9 And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife. 11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
B.Violence, Injury, and Life for Lifevv. 12-27
12 Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death. 13 If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. 14 But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death. 15 Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death. 16 Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession. 17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death. 18 If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed. 20 If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property. 22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows. 23 But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life— 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe. 26 If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
C.The Ox That Goresvv. 28-36
28 If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible. 29 But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death. 30 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him. 31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule. 32 If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned. 33 If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his. 35 If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal. 36 But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.
Chapter summary
The book of the covenant begins.
Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴
Chapter summary
The book of the covenant begins.
Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴
The book of the covenant begins. Case laws elaborating the Decalogue. Hebrew servants' rights (a seven-year release, with the option of lifelong service marked at the door-post). Capital offences named. Murder, kidnap, striking or cursing parents. The lex talionis (‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth’) limits vengeance rather than licensing it. Damages for assault, for a servant's injury, for miscarriage caused by fighting. The ox that gores. The chapter is the first casebook of biblical ethics; the principles run from creation-image dignity (life for life) to covenantal mercy (release and jubilee in miniature). Jesus' ‘ye have heard that it was said’ passages engage this material directly.
Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.
Context
Law · Moses — Exodus overview
- A. 1–11 Laws for Hebrew Servants
- B. 12–27 Violence, Injury, and Life for Life
- C. 28–36 The Ox That Gores
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
Exodus 216 verses
- Exodus 21:2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.
- Exodus 21:20If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- Exodus 21:22If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
- Exodus 21:29But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.
- Exodus 21:30If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
- Exodus 21:32If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.
- Read Exodus 21 →
Deuteronomy 154 verses
- Deuteronomy 15:12If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.
- Deuteronomy 15:16But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,
- Deuteronomy 15:17then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.
- Deuteronomy 15:18Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
- Read Deuteronomy 15 →
Exodus 223 verses
- Exodus 22:4If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.
- Exodus 22:6If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.
- Exodus 22:14If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while its owner is not present, he must make full restitution.
- Read Exodus 22 →
Leviticus 252 verses
- Leviticus 25:40Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.
- Leviticus 25:44Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.
- Read Leviticus 25 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
Genesis 92 verses
- Genesis 9:5And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Genesis 9:6Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Read Genesis 9 →
Matthew 262 verses
- Matthew 26:15and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.
- Matthew 26:52“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
- Read Matthew 26 →
Leviticus 242 verses
- Leviticus 24:17And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
- Leviticus 24:19If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:
- Read Leviticus 24 →
1 Samuel 242 verses
- 1 Samuel 24:4So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up secretly and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
- 1 Samuel 24:18And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.
- Read 1 Samuel 24 →
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.