Exodus 21:2 BSB — MannaFest

Exodus 21:2

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.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

KJV

If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

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Commentary

2 voices

Jerome

AGAINST JOVINIAN 2.25 (420)

We read that every Hebrew keeps the same Passover, and that in the seventh year every prisoner is set free, and that at Jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year, every possession returns to its owner. All this refers not to the present but to the future. For being in bondage during the six days of this world, on the seventh day, the true and eternal sabbath, we shall be free. If we wish to be free, we will be free even while still in bondage in the world.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

11 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
כִּ֤י	ki	for	H3588 →
תִקְנֶה֙	tik.Neh	you will buy	H7069 →
עֶ֣בֶד	'E.ved	a slave	H5650 →
עִבְרִ֔י	'iv.Ri	Hebrew	H5680 →
שֵׁ֥שׁ	shesh	six	H8337 →
שָׁנִ֖ים	sha.Nim	years	H8141 →
יַעֲבֹ֑ד	ya.'a.Vod	he will serve	H5647 →
וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת	u.Va.she.vi.'It	and in the seventh [year]	H7637 →
יֵצֵ֥א	ye.Tze'	he will go out	H3318 →
לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י	la.cha.fe.Shi	to <the> free [person]	H2670 →
חִנָּֽם׃	chi.Nam	without paying	H2600 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Deuteronomy 15:1
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
leads to
- Deuteronomy 31:10
  Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,
- Leviticus 25:2–4
  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
- Exodus 23:10–11
  For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
- Luke 4:18–19
  “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight…
Through
Exodus 12:44
But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
leads to
- Genesis 17:12–13
  Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.
- Genesis 17:23
  On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God…
Through
Deuteronomy 15:18
Do 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…
leads to
- Isaiah 21:16
  For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.
- Luke 17:7–8
  Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?

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On Exodus 21:2

The Bible and Slavery

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The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Exodus

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Exodus