Exodus 21:10
in Exodus 21If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
KJV
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
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This verse in Exodus 21
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And if he chooses her for his son
on Exodus 21:9-11
Verse 10 names three things a second marriage may not reduce, her food, her clothing and her marital rights. Verse 11 makes her freedom the penalty for withholding them, so a woman with no property holds a claim against the man who bought her.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
If he take him another wife,.... The father takes another wife for his son, or the son takes another wife to himself after he has betrothed and married his father's maidservant: her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish; neither deny it her in whole, nor lessen it in part, but give her her full due of each. What is meant by the two former words is easy, and admits of no difficulty, the latter is differently interpreted.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
if a man sell his daughter--Hebrew girls might be redeemed for a reasonable sum. But in the event of her parents or friends being unable to pay the redemption money, her owner was not at liberty to sell her elsewhere.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Be she a daughter of Israel who was sold, or be she a daughter of Israel that was not sold.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
If he takes himself another [wife], her sustenance, her clothing and her conjugal rights he must not diminish.
AND IF. Scripture employed an abridged form in saying shelosh eleh (these three).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 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 |
| אַחֶ֖רֶת | ʾacheret | another [woman] | H312 → | 166 times |
| יִֽקַּֽח־ | yikach- | he will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | for <the> himself | ||
| שְׁאֵרָ֛הּ | sheerah | food her | H7607 → | |
| כְּסוּתָ֥הּ | kesutah | covering her | H3682 → | |
| וְעֹנָתָ֖הּ | veonatah | and right to intercourse her | H5772 → | |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִגְרָֽע׃ | yigra' | he will reduce | H1639 → | 22 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
אַחֶ֖רֶתanother [woman]
ʾacheretH312 →166 times
יִֽקַּֽח־he will take
yikach-H3947 →966 times
ל֑וֹfor <the> himself
lo
שְׁאֵרָ֛הּfood her
sheerahH7607 →
כְּסוּתָ֥הּcovering her
kesutahH3682 →
וְעֹנָתָ֖הּand right to intercourse her
veonatahH5772 →
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִגְרָֽע׃he will reduce
yigra'H1639 →22 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.