If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.
Parallel translations
- WEB “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.
- KJV And 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.
- NKJV “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye.
- NASB “And if someone strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free on account of the eye.
- NLT “If a man hits his male or female slave in the eye and the eye is blinded, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye.
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 destroys a servant's eye must set the servant free as compensation. Bodily harm to a servant brings real consequences for the master.
Overview
This law protects servants from abuse by making permanent injury cost the master his servant entirely through emancipation. It affirms the servant's dignity and discourages cruelty within the household. The freeing of the injured points beyond itself to Christ, who frees the oppressed and binds up the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 72:12–14For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- Ps 10:14But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
- Neh 5:5We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
- Job 31:13–15If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
- Ps 10:18to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.
- Prov 22:22–23Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,
- Col 4:1Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
- Eph 6:9And masters, do the same for your slaves. Give up your use of threats, because you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.
- Exod 21:20If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- Deut 16:19Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
- Ps 9:12For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 21:26 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.