Bible Strong
Explore
Open the app
Exodus 21
NASB2020

Français

English

Original languages and others

Commentaries

Show in the text

Up to 5 commentaries at a time. Each excerpt opens in full.

ModeText only

Reading mode

New American Standard Bible 2020

Exodus 21

Ordinances for the People

1“Now these are the 1ordinances which you are to set before them:

2“If you buy 2a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you. 3If he comes 3alone, he shall leave 4alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall leave with him. 4If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave 5alone. 5But 6if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not leave as a free man,’ 6then his master shall bring him to 7God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an 8awl; and he shall serve him permanently.

7“Now 9if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to 10go free 11as the male slaves 12do. 8If she is 13displeasing in the eyes of her master 14who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people, because of his 15unfairness to her. 9And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her 16food, her clothing, or 17her conjugal rights. 11But if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go 18free for nothing, without payment of money.

Personal Injuries

12“19He who strikes someone so that he dies shall certainly be put to death. 1320Yet 21if he did not lie in wait for him, but 22God caused him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee. 1423If, however, someone is enraged against his neighbor, so as to kill him in a cunning way, you are to take him even from My altar, to be put to death.

15“And one who strikes his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.

16“Now 24one who 25kidnaps someone, whether he sells him or he is found in his 26possession, shall certainly be put to death.

17“And 27one who curses his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.

18“Now if people have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die but 28is confined to bed, 19if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his 29loss of time, and 30shall pay for his care until he is completely healed.

20“And if someone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies 31at his hand, he shall 32be punished. 21If, however, the slave 33survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; 34for the slave is his 35property.

22“Now if people struggle with each other and strike a pregnant woman so that 36she gives birth prematurely, but there is no injury, the guilty person shall certainly be fined as the woman’s husband 37may demand of him, and he shall 38pay 39as the judges decide. 23But if there is any further injury, 40then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 2441eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, 42bruise for bruise.

26“And if someone strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let 43the slave go free on account of the eye. 27And if he 44knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let 45the slave go free on account of the tooth.

28“Now if an ox gores a man or a woman 46to death, 47the ox shall certainly be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. 29If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30If a ransom is 48demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is 49demanded of him. 31Whether it gores a son or 50a daughter, it shall be done to him according to 51the same rule. 32If the ox gores a male or female slave, 52the owner shall give his or her master 5354thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Property Rights

33“Now if someone opens a pit, or 55digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall 56give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

35“And if someone’s ox injures another’s ox so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its proceeds equally; and they shall also divide the dead ox. 36Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he must make restitution of ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

Notes

  1. 1. Exodus 21:1 Ex 24:3, 4; Deut 4:14; 6:1 ↩
  2. 2. Exodus 21:2 Lev 25:39-43; Deut 15:12-18; Jer 34:14 ↩
  3. 3. Exodus 21:3 Lit by himself ↩
  4. 4. Exodus 21:3 Lit by himself ↩
  5. 5. Exodus 21:4 Lit by himself ↩
  6. 6. Exodus 21:5 Deut 15:16, 17 ↩
  7. 7. Exodus 21:6 Or the judges (who acted in God’s name) ↩
  8. 8. Exodus 21:6 I.e., a pointed tool ↩
  9. 9. Exodus 21:7 Neh 5:5 ↩
  10. 10. Exodus 21:7 Lit go out ↩
  11. 11. Exodus 21:7 Ex 21:2, 3 ↩
  12. 12. Exodus 21:7 Lit go out ↩
  13. 13. Exodus 21:8 Lit bad ↩
  14. 14. Exodus 21:8 Another reading is so that he did not designate her ↩
  15. 15. Exodus 21:8 Lit dealing treacherously ↩
  16. 16. Exodus 21:10 Lit flesh ↩
  17. 17. Exodus 21:10 1 Cor 7:3, 5 ↩
  18. 18. Exodus 21:11 Lit out ↩
  19. 19. Exodus 21:12 Gen 9:6; Lev 24:17; Num 35:30; Matt 26:52 ↩
  20. 20. Exodus 21:13 Num 35:10-34; Deut 19:1-13; Josh 20:1-9 ↩
  21. 21. Exodus 21:13 Lit he who ↩
  22. 22. Exodus 21:13 1 Sam 24:4, 10, 18 ↩
  23. 23. Exodus 21:14 Deut 19:11, 12; 1 Kin 2:28-34 ↩
  24. 24. Exodus 21:16 Deut 24:7 ↩
  25. 25. Exodus 21:16 Lit steals ↩
  26. 26. Exodus 21:16 Lit hand ↩
  27. 27. Exodus 21:17 Lev 20:9; Prov 20:20; Matt 15:4; Mark 7:10 ↩
  28. 28. Exodus 21:18 Lit lies in ↩
  29. 29. Exodus 21:19 Lit his sitting ↩
  30. 30. Exodus 21:19 Lit healing, he shall cause to be healed ↩
  31. 31. Exodus 21:20 Lit under ↩
  32. 32. Exodus 21:20 Lit suffer vengeance ↩
  33. 33. Exodus 21:21 Lit stands ↩
  34. 34. Exodus 21:21 Lev 25:44-46 ↩
  35. 35. Exodus 21:21 Lit money ↩
  36. 36. Exodus 21:22 Or an untimely birth occurs; lit her children come out ↩
  37. 37. Exodus 21:22 Lit lays on him ↩
  38. 38. Exodus 21:22 Ex 21:30; Deut 22:18, 19 ↩
  39. 39. Exodus 21:22 Lit by arbitration ↩
  40. 40. Exodus 21:23 Lev 24:19; Deut 19:21 ↩
  41. 41. Exodus 21:24 Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21; Matt 5:38 ↩
  42. 42. Exodus 21:25 Lit welt ↩
  43. 43. Exodus 21:26 Lit him go...his eye ↩
  44. 44. Exodus 21:27 Lit causes to fall ↩
  45. 45. Exodus 21:27 Lit him go...his tooth ↩
  46. 46. Exodus 21:28 Lit so that he dies ↩
  47. 47. Exodus 21:28 Gen 9:5; Ex 21:32 ↩
  48. 48. Exodus 21:30 Lit laid on him ↩
  49. 49. Exodus 21:30 Lit laid on him ↩
  50. 50. Exodus 21:31 Lit gores a daughter ↩
  51. 51. Exodus 21:31 Lit this judgment ↩
  52. 52. Exodus 21:32 Lit he ↩
  53. 53. Exodus 21:32 About 15 oz. or 425 gm ↩
  54. 54. Exodus 21:32 Zech 11:12; Matt 26:15; 27:3, 9 ↩
  55. 55. Exodus 21:33 Lit if a man digs ↩
  56. 56. Exodus 21:34 Lit give back ↩

Commentaries on Exodus 21

New American Standard Bible 2020 — © 1960–2020 The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.