Exodus 21:5 BSB — MannaFest

Exodus 21:5

But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

KJV

And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

⋯

Commentary

3 voices

Ambrose of Milan

Letter 7.14 (397)

That man is truly free, a true Hebrew, who is entirely God's. Everything that he possesses shares in freedom. He has nothing in common with the man who rejects freedom and says, "I have loved my master.… I will not go out free." The man who subjects himself to the world is returned not only to his master but also to his infirmity, because he loves the world or his mind, that is, his nous,the author of this desire.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1174: “The Ear Bored With An Awl” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1874)

THE slavery which existed among the ancient Jews was a very different thing from that which has disgraced humanity in modern times. And it ought also to be remembered that Moses did not institute slavery in any shape or fashion. The laws concerning it were made on purpose to repress it, to confine it within very narrow bounds and, ultimately, to put an end to it. It was like the law of divorce—Moses authored that law but he knew that the people were so deeply rooted in it that it could not be forbidden.

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

loading…

Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְאִם־	ve.'im-	and if	H518 →
אָמֹ֤ר	'a.Mor	carefully <to say>	H559 →
יֹאמַר֙	yo.Mar	he will say	H559 →
הָעֶ֔בֶד	ha.'E.ved	the slave	H5650 →
אָהַ֙בְתִּי֙	'a.Hav.ti	I love	H157 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
אֲדֹנִ֔י	'a.do.Ni	master my	H113 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
אִשְׁתִּ֖י	'ish.Ti	wife my	H802 →
וְאֶת־	ve.'Et	and <obj.>	H853 →
בָּנָ֑י	ba.Nai	children my	H1121 →
לֹ֥א	lo'	not	H3808 →
אֵצֵ֖א	'e.Tze'	I will go out	H3318 →
חָפְשִֽׁי׃	cha.fe.Shi	a free [person]	H2670 →

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 walk5

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
Isaiah 26:13
O LORD our God, other lords besides You have had dominion, but Your name alone do we confess.
leads to
- Isaiah 63:7
  I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great…
- Isaiah 2:8
  Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
- Isaiah 10:11
  and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
- Amos 6:10
  And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will…
- 2 Chronicles 12:8
  Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”

Featured studies on this passage

Walks through Exodus 21

The Bible and Slavery

Open the study →

About Exodus

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

Exodus: the study guide →Read chapter 21 →The featured study →

Continue: Exodus 21 →

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