The Second Book of Moses, called Exodus
Exodus 21
Chapter XXI · Vol. I, pp. 330–331
1 Laws for men-servants. 5 For the servant whose ear is bored. 7 For illegible men-servants. 12 For man-slaughter. 16 For stealers of men. 17 For cursers of parents. 18 For smiters. 22 For a hurt by chance. 28 For an ox that goreth. 33 For him that is an occasion of harm.
1 NOW these are the judgments4 which thou shalt a set before them.
4 The ten commandments, or words, ch. xx., contained the principles of divine law, as between God and man. This chapter enumerates certain judgments, or judicial application of these principles, where the cases are between man and man.—C.
a ch. 24.3,4. De. 4.14.
2 Ifb thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out c free for nothing.
b Le. 25.39,40. De. 15.12. Je. 34.14. Ne. 5.5.
c ver. 11. De. 15.13-15,18. Le. 25.40-46. Je. 34.8-18. Ro. 6.16,18; 8.2.
3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master have given him d a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's,5 and he shall go out by himself.
d Heathen, Le. 25.44.
5 A righteous and merciful law, (1.) As providing certainly for the wife and helpless family, instead of their being turned out upon the world with perhaps a careless husband. (2.) As providing a test of conjugal and paternal affection, which, if real, authorized the servant to abide with his wife and family till the jubilee, when all would go out free.—C.
5 And if e the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free:
e De. 15.16,17. Ga. 2.20. Ep. 5.2. Re. 1.5,6.
6 Then his master shall bring him unto f the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall g bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him h for ever.
f ch. 22.28. De. 16.18. Ps. 82.1.
g De. 15.17. Ps. 40.6-8, with He. 10.5-7.
h Till the jubilee, or the master's death, Le. 25.40-46, 55.
7 And if a man i sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall k not go out as the men-servants do.6
k ver. 2,3.
6 This law has been represented by some as relaxed in favour of female servants, De. 15.12; but the idea of relaxation seems not consistent with the divine origin of a law. But in point of fact the law in Exod. and the law in Deut. are on two different subjects. That in Exod. relates to a maid-servant not only purchased, but betrothed to her master or his son; that in Deut. to a maid-servant merely purchased. Both are glorious specimens of the justice and mercy of the divine legislation.—C.
8 If she please not7 her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the l manner of daughters.
A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491.
l ch. 22.16,17. De. 22.24,25,28,29; 19.30,31.
10 If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her m duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
m 1 Co. 7.3,5.
11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out n free without money.
n See ver. 2. Is. 52.3.
12 He that o smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
o Wilfully, ver. 14, 20,23. Ge. 9.6. Le. 23.17, 19,21,32,33. Nu. 35.15-21, 31,32,35. Re. 13.10. De. 19.11-13. Mat. 26.52.
13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand;8 then p I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
8 By some special providence.
14 But if a man come q presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
16 And he that s stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
s De. 24.7. Ge. 37.28. 1 Ti. 1.10.
18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed;
19 If he rise again, and walk abroad u upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for x the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
u 2 Sa. 3.29. Zec. 8.4.
x Heb. his ceasing. Mat. 7.12. Ro. 13.8. Phi. 4.8. De. 16.19,20.
20 And if a man smite his y servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.1
y Slave, ver. 21.
1 Heb. avenged.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished:2 for he is his money.3
2 With death, as he loses his slave, whom he did not intend to kill.
3 The master was a public officer, recognized and appointed by government, as the governors of our prisons and reformatories are. He had thus a legal right to administer punishment when necessary, but under certain wise restrictions which are elsewhere laid down, Le. 23.39. De. 25.3. The meaning of the phrase 'he shall be surely punished,' is, vengeance shall assuredly be taken upon him; i.e. he shall pay the penalty of his crime with his life; and the meaning of 'he shall not be punished,' is, his life shall not be forfeited. But this by no means implies that he should go altogether unpunished.—P.
22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet z no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
z To her own body, ver. 23.
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye a for eye,4 tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
a Le. 24.19,20. De. 19.19,21. Mat. 5.38,39; 7.2. 1 Sa. 15.33. Ju. 1.6, 7. Pr. 22.23. Is. 33.1. 2 Th. 1.6. Re. 13.10; 16.6.
4 Perhaps this law of retaliation took place only when the injured party could not otherwise be satisfied.
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.4
A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491.
4 The lex talionis, or law of like for like, in case of injuries of the person, has prevailed amongst all civilized nations. Into the code of Solon, the Athenian legislator, and into the famous twelve tables of the Romans, it most probably made its way from this judgment in the law of Moses. And that it would operate more powerfully in the prevention of crime than all the modern European system of fine, imprisonment, hard labour, banishment, or even death, we need not hesitate to affirm. God knew the evil that was in the heart of man, and best knew how to restrain it. And did legislators follow his wisdom more, and their own expedients less, we might well calculate on a diminution of these crimes, which many merely human enactments are calculated to provoke and perpetuate. It is not improbable, from considering the commutation of the extreme punishment of death to fine, permitted in ver. 30, that a similar commutation, as Josephus affirms, was permissible in any of these cases, at the option of the person injured.—Note, Between the law and our Saviour's exposition, Mat. 5. 38, there is no contradiction. Moses directs the judge in the prevention and punishment of crime; our Saviour addresses private individuals, forbidding revenge, and inculcating forbearance and forgiveness.—C.
26 And b if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
b Ps. 72.12-14. Col. 4.1. Ep. 6.9. ver. 1, 11. De. 23.15; 21.14. Ps. 82.3,4.
27 And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.5
5 The Mosaic law permitted a limited form of domestic servitude. By the provision of this enactment the servant or slave, whether Jew or heathen, was not under his owner or master's will, but under the protection of the public law, and a small personal injury entitled him to his freedom.—C.
28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then c the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; d the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
d Ge. 9.5,6. See ver. 12,14.
30 If e there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give, for the ransom of his life, whatsoever is laid upon him.
e Here the owner was chargeable with the murder in keeping the ox, Nu. 35.31.
31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
32 If the ox shall push a man-servant or a maid-servant; he shall give unto their master thirtyf shekels of silver[≈ 340 g · 12 oz · silver worth ≈ US$590], and the ox shall be stoned.
f £3. 8s. sterling, as the price of a slave, Zec. 11.12,13. Mat. 26.15. Phi. 2.7.
33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
34 The owner of the pit g shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.
35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.
Notes
Ver. 2. (1) A Hebrew might sell himself or his children in extreme poverty, De. 15.12; Le. 25.39; Ne. 5.5. (2) Magistrates might sell a person for theft, ch. 22.3. (3) He might be sold by his creditors for debt, 2 Ki. 4.1; Mat. 18.25. To such bond-servants masters often gave heathen maid-slaves as a kind of wives or concubines, to beget other slaves.—[No Hebrew could be sold unless a debtor or malefactor. When a man got into debt and was unable to pay, he was sold to, or he became the property of, the creditor for a period not exceeding six years, so that by his labour he might in some degree satisfy the just demands of the man he had wronged, Le. 25.39, 40. In case of theft the thief was compelled to restore double, or four-fold, or five-fold, according to the nature of the crime. If he had not the means of making full restitution, then he was sold, i.e. he became the property of the man he had robbed until by his labour he had made legal compensation. These were the only ways in which a Hebrew could become a bondman. P.]
Reflections.—How just, gracious, and condescending must God, the giver of these laws, be! How mindful of the welfare of mankind! How profitable to be his voluntary servants! His providence extends even to that which appears accidental; and he exercises the most exact care to preserve the innocent, and at the same time punish the guilty. Let me therefore take heed that neither I, nor what pertains to me, prove hurtful to my neighbour or to his property! Suppose no laws of men can punish me, the justice of God can overtake me. Let me rather, as a faithful man, put on bowels of mercy and long-suffering, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Meanwhile, in those voluntary bond-servants I may behold Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, from love to his Father, from love to all the world, solemnly surrendering himself to be his Father's bond-servant in our stead, till he should finish the whole obedience and thus keeping the law;—and to be his honorary servant for ever for our good, that he might bestow upon us all his unsearchable blessings in time and eternity.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.