Exodus 21:3
in Exodus 21If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
KJV
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
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This verse in Exodus 21
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husband’s term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves.
This site's exposition
six years he shall serve
on Exodus 21:2-4
The week of days is laid over a working life, so six years of service end in a seventh year of release for nothing. Verses 3 and 4 set the limit on that release, since a wife the master gave him and the children she bore stay with the master, and the man goes out alone. Deuteronomy 15:13 and 15:14 add what Exodus leaves out here, that the master furnishes him liberally out of his flock and his floor when he sends him away. Jeremiah 34:8 to 34:17 records the one place Scripture reports this law kept and then broken, when Jerusalem freed its servants under Zedekiah and took them back.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
If thou buy an Hebrew servant--Every Israelite was free-born; but slavery was permitted under certain restrictions. An Hebrew might be made a slave through poverty, debt, or crime; but at the end of six years he was entitled to freedom, and his wife, if she had voluntarily shared his state of bondage, also obtained release.
If he came in by himself - If he and his wife came in together, they were to go out together: in all respects as he entered, so should he go out. This consideration seems to have induced St. Jerome to translate the passage thus: Cum quali veste intraverat, cum tali exeat. “He shall have the same coat in going out, as he had when he came in,” i.e., if he came in with a new one, he shall go out with a new one, which was perfectly just, as the former coat must have been worn out in his master’s service, and not his own.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בְּגַפּ֥וֹ | begapo | with body his | H1610 → | 4 times |
| יָבֹ֖א | yavo' | he will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בְּגַפּ֣וֹ | begapo | with body his | H1610 → | 4 times |
| יֵצֵ֑א | yetze' | he will go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בַּ֤עַל | baal | [is the] husband of | H1167 → | 84 times |
| אִשָּׁה֙ | ʾishah | a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| ה֔וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְיָצְאָ֥ה | veyatzeah | and she will go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ | ʾishto | wife his | H802 → | 781 times |
| עִמּֽוֹ׃ | imo | with him | H5973 → | 1050 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
בְּגַפּ֥וֹwith body his
begapoH1610 →4 times
יָבֹ֖אhe will come
yavo'H935 →2568 times
בְּגַפּ֣וֹwith body his
begapoH1610 →4 times
יֵצֵ֑אhe will go out
yetze'H3318 →1067 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
בַּ֤עַל[is the] husband of
baalH1167 →84 times
אִשָּׁה֙a wife
ʾishahH802 →781 times
ה֔וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
וְיָצְאָ֥הand she will go out
veyatzeahH3318 →1067 times
אִשְׁתּ֖וֹwife his
ʾishtoH802 →781 times
עִמּֽוֹ׃with him
imoH5973 →1050 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.