Exodus 21
The full text of Exodus 21 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 "These are the laws you are to set before them:
2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year he is to go free, without paying anything.
3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.
4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children belong to her master, and only the man is to go free.
5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,'
6 then his master is to bring him before God. He is to take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
7 "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the male servants do.
8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.
9 If he selects her for his son, he must treat her as he would a daughter.
10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing, and marital rights.
11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment.
12 "Anyone who strikes a person a fatal blow is to be put to death.
13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate.
14 But if anyone schemes and kills another deliberately, take them away from my altar and put them to death.
15 "Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.
16 "Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still held.
17 "Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.
18 "If people quarrel and one person strikes another with a stone or with their fist, and the victim does not die but is confined to bed,
19 the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, they must pay the injured person for the lost time and see that the victim is completely healed.
20 "Anyone who beats their male or female servant with a rod must be punished if the servant dies as a direct result,
21 but they are not to be punished if the servant recovers after a day or two, since the servant is their property.
22 "If people who are fighting strike a pregnant woman so that her child is born early but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows.
23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
26 "An owner who hits a male or female servant in the eye and destroys it must let the servant go free to compensate for the eye.
27 And if the owner knocks out the tooth of a male or female servant, the servant is to go free to compensate for the tooth.
28 "If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.
29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up, and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and its owner also must be put to death.
30 However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem their life by paying whatever is demanded.
31 This same rule applies whether the bull gores a son or a daughter.
32 If the bull gores a male or female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the servant's master, and the bull must be stoned to death.
33 "If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34 the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss, and the dead animal will be theirs.
35 "If anyone's bull injures someone else's bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally.
36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and the dead animal will be theirs.
Translation notes (8)
- Exodus 21:6a The Hebrew phrase 'el ha-elohim' is translated as 'before God.' The word 'ha-elohim' can mean 'God,' 'the gods,' or 'the judges / God's appointed authorities' (as in the Septuagint and several traditions here and in verses 7-9 of chapter 22). It is genuinely debated whether this rite is performed at a sanctuary before God or before local judicial authorities, and this translation does not resolve that dispute.
- Exodus 21:8a The written Hebrew text (called the Ketiv) reads 'who has not selected her,' while the traditional reading (called the Qere) reads 'who has selected her for himself.' This translation follows the Qere; the Ketiv would mean 'if he has not designated her [for marriage]...'
- Exodus 21:10a The Hebrew word ''onah,' translated as 'marital rights,' is obscure. It is traditionally understood as conjugal rights, but 'oil/ointment' or 'shelter' have also been proposed as possible meanings.
- Exodus 21:17a The Hebrew word 'qillel,' translated as 'curses,' means to revile, treat with contempt, or invoke harm against someone—the opposite of 'honor' (kabbed) in 20:12.
- Exodus 21:22a This clause is among the most disputed in the legal codes. The Hebrew text literally says 'and her children come out, and there is no 'ason.' 'Her children come out' has been read either as a miscarriage (the child dies) or as a premature live birth (the child survives), and ''ason' ('serious injury / harm / fatal mischief') may refer to the woman alone or to the woman and/or the child. The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, introduces a distinction between an unformed and a formed fetus that is absent from the Hebrew. This translation renders the Hebrew without resolving toward either the miscarriage or the live-birth reading; see verse 23.
- Exodus 21:23a The Hebrew word ''ason,' translated here as 'serious injury,' is discussed in verse 22. Whether the 'lex talionis' (a principle of retaliation, limiting punishment to match the injury) that follows in verses 23-25 applies to harm done to the woman, to the child, or to both depends on the disputed meaning of verse 22 and is not resolved here.
- Exodus 21:24a This is the 'lex talionis,' also known as the 'law of retaliation,' a principle that limits punishment to match, and not exceed, the injury. In practice, ancient Israel commonly applied this principle through proportionate financial compensation.
- Exodus 21:36a In the Hebrew text, this chapter has one more verse. Hebrew 21:37 corresponds to English 22:1, and from here on, the Hebrew verse numbers in chapter 22 run one ahead of the English until they realign. The standard English verse numbering is followed here, and this difference is noted again at 22:1.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is a new translation of the Bible prepared by Trinity Bible AI — rendered from the original Hebrew and faithful to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. Finished in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation you can read today, and it is available only through Trinity Bible. All 66 books, including Exodus, are free to read on this site.
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