Exodus 21

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¹“Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them: ✦ ²“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you. ✦ ³If he comes alone, he shall leave alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall leave with him. ✦ ⁴If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave alone. ⁵But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not leave as a free man,’ ✦ ⁶then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. ✦ ⁷“Now if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. ✦ ⁸If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people, because of his unfairness to her. ✦ ⁹And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. ¹⁰If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. ✦ ¹¹But if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go free for nothing, without payment of money. ¹²“He who strikes someone so that he dies shall certainly be put to death. ✦ ¹³Yet if he did not lie in wait for him, but God caused him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee. ✦ ¹⁴If, however, someone is enraged against his neighbor, so as to kill him in a cunning way, you are to take him even from My altar, to be put to death. ✦ ¹⁵“And one who strikes his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death. ✦ ¹⁶“Now one who kidnaps someone, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall certainly be put to death. ✦ ¹⁷“And one who curses his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death. ✦ ¹⁸“Now if people have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, ✦ ¹⁹if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall pay for his care until he is completely healed. ✦ ²⁰“And if someone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies at his hand, he shall be punished. ✦ ²¹If, however, the slave survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for the slave is his property. ✦ ²²“Now if people struggle with each other and strike a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, but there is no injury, the guilty person shall certainly be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. ✦ ²³But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, ✦ ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ✦ ²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. ²⁶“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. ✦ ²⁷And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free on account of the tooth. ²⁸“Now if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall certainly be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. ✦ ²⁹If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. ✦ ³⁰If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. ✦ ³¹Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule. ³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. ✦ ³³“Now if someone opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ✦ ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his. ✦ ³⁵“And if someone’s ox injures another’s ox so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its proceeds equally; and they shall also divide the dead ox. ³⁶Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he must make restitution of ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

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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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