Exodus 21

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¹Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ✦ ²If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ✦ ³If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. ✦ ⁴If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: ✦ ⁶Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. ✦ ⁷And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. ✦ ⁸If she please not 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. ✦ ⁹And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. ¹⁰If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. ✦ ¹¹And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. ¹²He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. ✦ ¹³And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. ✦ ¹⁴But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. ✦ ¹⁵And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. ✦ ¹⁶And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. ✦ ¹⁷And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. ✦ ¹⁸And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: ✦ ¹⁹If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. ✦ ²⁰And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. ✦ ²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money. ✦ ²²If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet 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. ✦ ²³And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, ✦ ²⁴Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ✦ ²⁵Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ²⁶And 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. ✦ ²⁷And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake. ²⁸If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. ✦ ²⁹But 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; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. ✦ ³⁰If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. ✦ ³¹Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. ³²If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. ✦ ³³And 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; ✦ ³⁴The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. ✦ ³⁵And 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. ³⁶Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Exod 21 ·12 Num 35 ·10 Deut 19 ·7 Deut 15 ·6 Exod 22 ·6 Deut 4 ·5 Prov 30 ·4 Lev 25 ·4

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical
On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical
Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.
DocumentaryPatterns of Evidence: The ExodusTim Mahoney · Paid · evangelical
Investigates the archaeological evidence for the Exodus. Note: it advances a minority biblical chronology that mainstream scholars dispute — engaging, but weigh its conclusions critically.

Pastoral

★ Start hereCommentaryExodus (New American Commentary)Douglas K. Stuart · Paid · evangelical
The best evangelical, semi-technical commentary on Exodus — accessible to pastors and serious students.
DocumentaryThat the World May KnowRay Vander Laan · Paid · evangelical
Ray Vander Laan's on-location series immersing you in the Bible's historical and cultural world. (Mostly paid via Focus on the Family; some free clips.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 21YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Exodus 21David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Exodus 21Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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