“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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- ESV “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because 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 quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.
- Ps 10:14But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
- Neh 5:5Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
- Job 31:13–15“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me;
- Ps 10:18to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
- Prov 22:22–23Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;
- Col 4:1Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
- Eph 6:9You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
- Exod 21:20“If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- Deut 16:19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.
- Ps 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
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 21:26 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.