Passage

Exodus 21.20-21

Book: Exodus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

18. And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed; 19. if 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.

20. And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall surely be punished. 21. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23. But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life, (Exodus 21:18-23, ASV)

WEB

18. “If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed; 19. if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.

20. “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21. Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.

“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow. 23. But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, (Exodus 21:18-23, WEB)

KJV

18. And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: ^{another: or, his neighbour} 19. If 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. ^{the loss: Heb. his ceasing}

20. And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. ^{punished: Heb. avenged} 21. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

If 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. 23. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, (Exodus 21:18-23, KJV)

YLT

18. 'And when men contend, and a man hath smitten his neighbour with a stone, or with the fist, and he die not, but hath fallen on the bed; 19. if he rise, and hath gone up and down without on his staff, then hath the smiter been acquitted; only his cessation he giveth, and he is thoroughly healed.

20. 'And when a man smiteth his man-servant or his handmaid, with a rod, and he hath died under his hand, he is certainly avenged; 21. only if he remain a day, or two days, he is not avenged, for he [is] his money.

'And when men strive, and have smitten a pregnant woman, and her children have come out, and there is no mischief, he is certainly fined, as the husband of the woman doth lay upon him, and he hath given through the judges; 23. and if there is mischief, then thou hast given life for life, (Exodus 21:18-23, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the LORD, giving case law through Moses
Audience: Israel
Location: Mount Sinai
Time period: the exodus generation; the date is disputed between a fifteenth- and a thirteenth-century BC exodus

Theological reading

The pair that must be read as one provision: a master who kills a servant under his hand shall be avenged, but if the servant survives a day or two he shall not be avenged, for the servant is his money.

The second clause is the hardest sentence in the Book of the Covenant and should be quoted rather than paraphrased. Two things are commonly claimed about it and only one is right.

It is often said that the passage licenses beating a servant. What it does is set an evidentiary line: death under the hand establishes intent to kill, and survival for a period leaves intent unproven, which is the same distinction the chapter draws elsewhere between murder and manslaughter. The phrase rendered "his money" states the master's economic loss as the reason no further penalty is exacted, which is the offensive part and is not softened by the reading.

The honest position grants that the provision values the master's loss and does not equalise the parties, argues that it nonetheless makes a master answerable for a servant's death, and points to Exodus 21.26-27 as the chapter's own limit on brutality. See Israelite Slavery Possession-vs-Ownership Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H4191 - mut, mut, Strong's H4191
H5650 - ebed, ebed, Strong's H5650

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.