Exodus 21:6

Exodus 21:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
• New International Version (NIV)then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
• English Standard Version (ESV)then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
• New King James Version (NKJV)then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

Context of Exodus 21:6

4If his master gave him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself. 5But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. 7“If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do. 8If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her.

Exodus 21:6 word by word

וְהִגִּישׁ֤וֹ אֲדֹנָיו֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ֙ אֶל־הַדֶּ֔לֶת א֖וֹ אֶל־הַמְּזוּזָ֑ה וְרָצַ֨ע אֲדֹנָ֤יו אֶת־אָזְנוֹ֙ בַּמַּרְצֵ֔עַ וַעֲבָד֖וֹ לְעֹלָֽם׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Then his masterאָדוֹן'âdôn 'âdôn · lordH113
• shall bringנָגַשׁnâgash · to approach: bringH5066
• him unto the judgesאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• him to the doorדֶּ֫לֶתdeleth · doorH1817
• or unto the door postמְזוּזָהmezûzâh mezûzâh · doorpostH4201
• shall boreרָצַעrâtsa‛ · to boreH7527
• his earאֹ֫זֶן'ôzen · earH241
• through with an aulמַרְצֵעַmartsêa‛ · awlH4836
• and he shall serveעָבַד‛âbad · to serveH5647
• him for everעוֹלָם‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm · forever: enduringH5769

Cross-references for Exodus 21:6

• Exodus 21:22“If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides.
• Exodus 12:12I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.
• Exodus 18:21But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
• Exodus 22:8If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges to see whether he has laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods.
• Numbers 25:6Just then one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of the whole community of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
• Deuteronomy 1:16I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens and judge fairly, whether between one citizen and another or a citizen and a resident foreigner.
• Deuteronomy 16:18You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.
• Deuteronomy 19:17then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.
• 1 Samuel 8:1In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
• Isaiah 1:26I will reestablish honest judges as in former times, wise advisers as in earlier days. Then you will be called, ‘The Just City, Faithful Town.’”
• Zephaniah 3:3Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.
• Psalms 40:6Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern. You make that quite clear to me! You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.
• Leviticus 25:23The land must not be sold without reclaim because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me.
• Deuteronomy 15:17you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).
• 1 Samuel 1:22but Hannah did not go up with them. Instead she told her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the Lord, and he will remain there from then on.”
• 1 Samuel 27:12So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, “He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant.”

Commentaries on Exodus 21:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6Shall bring him unto the judges - האלהים אל el haelohim, literally, to God; or, as the Septuagint have it, , to the judgment of God; who condescended to dwell among his people; who determined all their differences till he had given them laws for all cases, and who, by his omniscience, brought to light the hidden things of dishonesty. See Exodus 22:8. Bore his ear through with an awl - This was a ceremony sufficiently significant, as it implied, That he…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6Forever - That is, most probably, until the next Jubilee, when every Hebrew was set free. See Leviticus 25:40, Leviticus 25:50. The custom of boring the ear as a mark of slavery appears to have been a common one in ancient times, observed in many nations. Unto the judges - Literally, “before the gods אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym The word does not denote “judges” in a direct way, but it is to be understood as the name of God, in its ordinary plural form, God being the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-6The master was not required to provide a slave with a wife who would then be freed with him. The slave in such a situation had to either abandon the family he began while he was a slave or become a permanent slave.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 21:6

• Awl
• Boring the Ear
• Contracts
• Creditor
• Debtor
• Ear
• Servant

In the dictionaries

• Awl
• Book
• Crucifixion
• Determine
• Ear
• Gore
• Push
• Quit
• Ransom
• Wont

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