New King James Version
Exodus 21:3
3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exodus 21:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
- New International Version (NIV)If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.
- English Standard Version (ESV)If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
- New Living Translation (NLT)If he was single when he became your slave, he shall leave single. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife must be freed with him.
Context of Exodus 21:3
1“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: 2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
Read all of Exodus 21Exodus 21:3 word by word
אִם־בְּגַפּ֥וֹ יָבֹ֖א בְּגַפּ֣וֹ יֵצֵ֑א אִם־בַּ֤עַל אִשָּׁה֙ ה֔וּא וְיָצְאָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Commentaries on Exodus 21:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3If he came in by himself - If he and his wife came in together, they were to go out together: in all respects as he entered, so should he go out. This consideration seems to have induced St. Jerome to translate the passage thus: Cum quali veste intraverat, cum tali exeat. "He shall have the same coat in going out, as he had when he came in," i.e., if he came in with a new one, he shall go out with a new one, which was perfectly just, as the former coat…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husband‘s term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3If a man and a wife went into slavery together, they were also to go free together.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 21:3
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries