Exodus 21:1
in Exodus 21“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
KJV
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
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This verse in Exodus 21
Commentary
5 notes on this verseNow these are the judgments - There is so much good sense, feeling, humanity, equity, and justice in the following laws, that they cannot but be admired by every intelligent reader; and they are so very plain as to require very little comment. The laws in this chapter are termed political, those in the succeeding chapter judicial, laws; and are supposed to have been delivered to Moses alone, in consequence of the request of the people, Exo 20:19, that God should communicate his will to Moses, and that Moses should, as mediator, convey it to them.
This site's exposition
the judgments which thou shalt set before them
The book of the covenant begins here, and Exodus 24:7 gives it that name after Moses reads it aloud to the people. Three chapters of case law follow the ten commandments, and the first subject taken up is the rights of a slave, set before a nation that had been slaves the month before. The Hebrew root behind serve in this chapter is the one Exodus 1:13 and 1:14 used five times over for the bondage in Egypt.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The first verse is the general title of the laws contained in this and the two following chapters. Their government being purely a theocracy; that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence, was directed among them by a divine appointment. These laws are called judgments; because their magistrates were to give judgment according to them.
Now these are the judgments,.... The judicial laws respecting the civil state of the people of Israel, so called because they are founded on justice and equity, and are according to the judgment of God, whose judgment is according to truth; and because they are such by which the commonwealth of Israel was to be judged or governed, and were to be the rule of their conduct to one another, and a rule of judgment to their judges in the execution of judgment and justice among them: which thou shall set before them; besides the ten commands before delivered.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
judgments--rules for regulating the procedure of judges and magistrates in the decision of cases and the trial of criminals. The government of the Israelites being a theocracy, those public authorities were the servants of the Divine Sovereign, and subject to His direction.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ | veeleh | and these | H428 → | 746 times |
| הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים | hamishpatim | [are] the judgments | H4941 → | 422 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| תָּשִׂ֖ים | tasim | you will set | H7760 → | 584 times |
| לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃ | lifneihem | <to> before them | H6440 → | 2123 times |
וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙and these
veelehH428 →746 times
הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים[are] the judgments
hamishpatimH4941 →422 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
תָּשִׂ֖יםyou will set
tasimH7760 →584 times
לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃<to> before them
lifneihemH6440 →2123 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 6:1These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:1
Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of…
- Deuteronomy 12:1
These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.
- Deuteronomy 4:45
These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,
- Deuteronomy 5:31
But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them…
- Leviticus 27:34
These are the commandments that the LORD gave to Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
- Deuteronomy 4:1
Through
Deuteronomy 6:20In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”
it leads to
- Exodus 13:14
In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Exodus 12:26
When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
- Exodus 13:14
Through
Numbers 35:24then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.
it leads to
- Joshua 20:6
He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the manslayer may return to his own…
- Joshua 20:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.