“If a man beats his male or female slave with a club and the slave dies as a result, the owner must be punished.
Parallel translations
- WEB “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- KJV And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
- BSB If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- NKJV “And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- NASB “And if someone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies at his hand, he shall be punished.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A master who fatally beats his servant with a rod must be punished. Even servants are persons under God's protection, not mere property to be killed.
Overview
Unlike surrounding cultures, Israel's law held masters accountable for a servant's death, affirming the servant's humanity and dignity. This restrains cruelty and asserts that all people answer to God's justice. It foreshadows the gospel truth that in Christ there is neither slave nor free, all being one before God (Galatians 3:28).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 29:19A servant can’t be corrected by words. Though he understands, yet he will not respond.
- Deut 19:21Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
- Gen 4:24If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times.”
- Isa 58:3–4‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
- Num 35:19The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
- Gen 4:15Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, so that anyone finding him would not strike him.
- Rom 13:4for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
- Num 35:30–33“‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die.
- Exod 21:26–27“If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
- Gen 9:6Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 21:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.