Exodus 21

After the Ten Commandments, God gives Israel everyday laws for living together as His people. This chapter covers servants, deliberate and accidental killing, family honor, injuries, and animals that cause harm. Throughout, human life and dignity are protected, and even the weakest are not left without justice.

Exodus 21:1

Right after the Ten Commandments, God tells Moses to place a set of case laws before the people. Worship and daily life belong together. The God who spoke from the mountain also cares how neighbors, servants and families are treated.

BSA: ordinances (“judgments, laws, regulations”): These are God’s rulings on real situations, not abstract ideas.

Hebrew: מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, H4941) — “judgments, rulings.” The word means decisions of a judge. These laws show what God’s justice looks like in particular cases.

Exodus 21:2

A Hebrew who had fallen into debt and been bought as a servant could not be held forever. After six years he went free in the seventh, with no price to pay. God built hope and a limit into the arrangement.

BSA: free (“without obligation, exempt from slavery”): The release was complete, with no strings left attached.

See also: Deuteronomy 15:12-15.

Exodus 21:3-4

A man left with what he came with. If he came married, his wife left with him. If his master had given him a wife, she and the children stayed with the master, so freedom could cost him his family. The next verses show how he could choose.

BSA: master (“lord or owner”): The wife and children remained under the owner’s authority, which is what made this choice painful.

Exodus 21:5-6

A servant could choose to stay out of love for his master and family. In a public ceremony at the door, his ear was pierced and he became a servant for life. It pictures love that freely binds itself.

BSA: love (“have affection for, am devoted to”): His staying is a matter of devotion, not compulsion. judges (“to God, to the place of worship”): The same Hebrew word can mean God or judges, so the act was done before God as well as before the community.

Hebrew: הָאֱלֹהִים (ha-Elohim, H430) — “God, or the judges who act for God.” The word is the ordinary name for God. Many translations render it ‘judges’ here because they stood in God’s place, so the commitment was made before God.

See also: Deuteronomy 15:16-17.

Exodus 21:7

A daughter sold into service by a poor father was in a different position from a male servant. She was usually taken into a household with marriage in view, so she did not simply walk free after six years. The next verses show the protections she received.

BSA: servant (“maidservant or female slave”): She entered a household as a dependent, with rights the following verses guard.

Exodus 21:8-9

If the master chose her for himself and then lost interest, he could not sell her abroad. She had to be allowed to be bought back. If he chose her for his son, she was to be treated as a daughter. Her protection came from the master’s own promise.

BSA: redeemed (“bought back, set free from bondage”): Her family could pay to free her, so she was never simply discarded. broken faith (“acted deceitfully”): Rejecting her after designating her counted as a betrayal, not a private choice.

Exodus 21:10-11

Even if the master took a second wife, the first kept her three basic rights: food, clothing and marital rights. If he withheld any of them, she went free with no payment owed. God guards the vulnerable wife against neglect.

BSA: marital rights (“intimate duty, cohabitation”): A wife was owed closeness and care, not only material support.

See also: 1 Corinthians 7:3.

Exodus 21:12

The section on killing starts plainly: whoever strikes and kills a man must be put to death. Human life is so valuable that taking it demands the highest penalty. The following verses separate murder from accident.

BSA: put to death (“executed, die the death”): The penalty is as final as the loss of the life taken.

See also: Genesis 9:6.

Exodus 21:13

If the death was not planned but God allowed it to happen, the killer was not treated as a murderer. God promised a place where he could flee for safety. Later this became the cities of refuge.

BSA: place (“a location of safety, a city of refuge”): Mercy was provided for the one who killed by accident.

Hebrew: אִנָּה (innah, H579) — “caused to meet, brought about.” The word is gentle and unusual. It pictures the death as something that happened to the man, not something he plotted.

See also: Numbers 35:9-15.

Exodus 21:14

A planned, cold-blooded killing was different. Even if the murderer ran to God’s altar for safety, he was to be dragged away and executed. The altar protected the accidental killer, but it could not shelter a deliberate murderer.

BSA: altar (“place of sacrifice, refuge”): The altar was seen as a place of safety, but it did not shield the guilty from justice. willfully (“with premeditation, on purpose”): Intent is what separates murder from accident.

Hebrew: בְּעָרְמָה (be’ormah, H6195) — “with craft, with cunning.” The word names the sly planning behind the act. The murder is the end of a hidden scheme.

See also: 1 Kings 2:28-31.

Exodus 21:15

Striking a father or mother was a capital offense. Family was the foundation of Israel’s life, and attacking a parent attacked that foundation. The law shows how seriously God takes the honor owed to parents.

See also: Matthew 15:4.

Exodus 21:16

Kidnapping was a death-penalty crime, whether the victim was already sold or still held. A person must never be treated as merchandise. This protects the freedom of every person made in God’s image.

BSA: kidnaps (“stealeth, takes by force or deception”): The law treats taking a person as a kind of theft of the highest order.

Hebrew: גֹּנֵב (goneiv, H1589) — “one who steals.” The ordinary word for thief is used here, so stealing a human being is counted as the worst kind of theft.

See also: Deuteronomy 24:7.

Exodus 21:17

Cursing a father or mother carried the same penalty as striking them. Words that treat a parent as worthless are an assault on the home. Honor for parents was to be real, not only a feeling.

BSA: curses (“to bring into contempt, to lighten”): To curse is to treat someone as light and worthless, the opposite of giving honor.

Hebrew: מְקַלֵּל (mekallel, H7043) — “one who curses, who makes light of.” The root means ’to be light’. To curse a parent is to treat as weightless someone God says to honor.

Exodus 21:18-19

In a fight where the injured man recovers, the attacker is not punished as a killer. He must still pay for the lost time and see the man fully healed. Justice here means repairing harm.

BSA: healed (“mended, restored”): The aim is full restoration, not merely a fine.

Exodus 21:20-21

A master who beat his servant to death was to be punished. If the servant survived a day or two, no further penalty followed. The law limits harsh treatment in an ancient setting and gives the servant’s life real protection.

BSA: property (“silver, valuable possession”): The master had already suffered a loss by the servant’s injury, a point the law weighs here.

Exodus 21:22

If men fighting hurt a pregnant woman and she gives birth early with no further harm, the one responsible pays a fine set by her husband and the judges. Translations and readers differ on some details. The law clearly takes harm to a mother and her unborn child seriously.

BSA: prematurely (“comes out, is delivered”): The wording describes the child coming out early, and readers differ on whether it lives.

Exodus 21:23-25

If serious harm results, the penalty must match the harm, a life for a life and so on. This sets a limit on revenge: punishment must be fair and no greater than the wrong. It was a rule for judges, not a license for private payback.

BSA: life (“soul, living being”): Life itself is the thing of value being weighed.

Hebrew: תַּחַת (tachat, H8478) — “in place of, instead of.” Each pairing uses this small word, ‘in place of’. The punishment is a measured exchange, no more than the wrong.

See also: Leviticus 24:19-20; Matthew 5:38-39.

Exodus 21:26-27

A master who blinded an eye or knocked out a tooth of his servant had to set the servant free. The servant’s body mattered, and even a lasting injury gave him release. The servant was never treated as a mere tool.

BSA: go free (“be released from bondage, exempt from obligation”): Freedom became the price the master paid for the injury.

Exodus 21:28

An ox that gored someone to death was to be stoned, and its meat could not be eaten. The owner, if blameless, was not held responsible. A human life was too precious for even an animal to take without consequence.

BSA: stoned (“to stone to death, as a punishment”): Even the animal answered for a death, which shows how weighty a human life was.

Exodus 21:29-30

If the owner knew his ox was dangerous and failed to restrain it, he shared the guilt and could be put to death. The family of the dead could instead accept a ransom, and he could buy back his life. Knowing and ignoring a danger is serious.

BSA: warned (“testified to, informed”): The owner had been formally told, so he could not claim ignorance. redeem (“buy back, rescue”): Mercy was possible, but only by paying what was demanded.

See also: Mark 10:45.

Exodus 21:31-32

The same rule applied if the ox killed a child. If it killed a servant, the owner paid thirty shekels of silver to the servant’s master, and the ox was stoned. Every life counted, and the law set a clear compensation.

BSA: shekels (“a unit of weight or money, a coin”): Silver was weighed out as the standard payment for a loss.

See also: Matthew 26:15.

Exodus 21:33-34

If a man dug a pit and left it uncovered, he must pay for any animal that fell in. The dead animal then became his. Leaving a known hazard exposed makes you answerable for the harm it causes.

BSA: pit (“cistern, well”): Such pits held water and were common, so careless owners were a real danger.

Exodus 21:35-36

If one ox killed another by accident, the owners sold the live ox and divided both the money and the dead animal. If the owner knew his ox was dangerous and did nothing, he paid in full, ox for ox. The more you know, the more you answer for.

BSA: restrain (“keep, watch over”): The owner’s duty was to guard the animal, not just own it.