God’s Word Translation
Exodus 21:2
2“Whenever you buy a Hebrew slave, he will be your slave for six years. In the seventh year he may leave as a free man, without paying for his freedom.
Exodus 21:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
- New International Version (NIV)“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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
Context of Exodus 21:2
1⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Here are the legal decisions to be used by the Israelites: “Whenever you buy a Hebrew slave, he will be your slave for six years. In the seventh year he may leave as a free man, without paying for his freedom. 3If he comes to you by himself, he must leave by himself. If he comes as a married man, his wife may leave with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself.
Read all of Exodus 21Exodus 21:2 word by word
כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- If thou buyקָנָהqânâh · to buyH7069
- an Hebrewעִבְרִי‛ibrîy · HebrewH5680
- servantעֶ֫בֶד‛ebed · servant/slaveH5650
- sixשֵׁשׁshêsh shishshâh · sixH8337
- yearsשָׁנָהshâneh shânâh · yearH8141
- he shall serveעָבַד‛âbad · to serveH5647
- and in the seventhשְׁבִיעִיshebîy‛îy shebi‛îy · seventhH7637
- he shall go outיָצָאyâtsâ' · to come out: comeH3318
- freeחׇפְשִׁיchophshîy · freeH2670
- for nothingחִנָּםchinnâm · for nothingH2600
Cross-references for Exodus 21:2
- Exodus 12:44“Any male slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him.
- Exodus 22:3But if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of murder. “A thief must make up for what he has stolen. If he is unable to do so, he must be sold ⌞as a slave⌟ to pay for what he stole.
- Genesis 27:28May God give you dew from the sky, fertile fields on the earth, and plenty of fresh grain and new wine.
- Leviticus 25:39“If an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to you, don’t work him like a slave.
- 2 Kings 4:1One of the wives of a disciple of the prophets called to Elisha, “Sir, my husband is dead! You know how he feared the Lord. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.”
- Nehemiah 5:1Then some of the people, the men and their wives, complained publicly about their Jewish relatives.
- Matthew 18:25Because he could not pay off the debt, the master ordered him, his wife, his children, and all that he had to be sold to pay off the account.
- 1 Corinthians 6:20You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.
- Leviticus 25:40He will be like a hired worker or a visitor to you. He may work with you until the year of jubilee.
- Deuteronomy 15:1At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts.
- Deuteronomy 31:10Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seventh year you must cancel debts. At that time, during the Festival of Booths,
- Jeremiah 34:8The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves.
Commentaries on Exodus 21:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2If thou buy a Hebrew servant - Calmet enumerates six different ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty: In extreme poverty they might sell their liberty. Leviticus 25:39; : If thy brother be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, etc. A father might sell his children. If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant; see Exodus 21:7. Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. My husband is dead - and the creditor is come to take unto him my…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2A Hebrew might be sold as a bondman in consequence either of debt Leviticus 25:39 or of the commission of theft Exodus 22:3. But his servitude could not be enforced for more than six full years. Compare the marginal references.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2A man might sell himself into slavery in order to get money to pay his debts. This law states that the man was never to become the permanent property of the master.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-62-6. 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. Should he, however, have married a female slave, she and the children, after the husband's liberation, remained the master's…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 21:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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