✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Êxodo 21

ARC · Chapter 21/40

1Estes são os estatutos que lhes proporás.

2Se comprares um servo hebreo, seis annos servirá; mas ao setimo sairá forro, de graça.

3Se entrou só com o seu corpo, só com o seu corpo sairá: se elle era homem casado, sairá sua mulher com elle.

4Se seu senhor lhe houver dado uma mulher, e ella lhe houver parido filhos ou filhas, a mulher e seus filhos serão de seu senhor, e elle sairá só com sen corpo.

5Mas se aquelle servo expressamente disser: Eu amo a meu senhor, e a minha mulher, e a meus filhos; não quero sair forro:

6Então seu senhor o levará aos juizes, e o fará chegar á porta, ou ao postigo, e seu senhor lhe furará a orelha com uma sovela; e o servirá para sempre.

7E se algum vender sua filha por serva, não sairá como saem os servos.

8Se desagradar aos olhos de seu senhor, e não se desposar com ella, fará que se resgate: não poderá vendel-a a um povo estranho, usando deslealmente com ella.

9Mas se a desposar com seu filho, fará com ella conforme ao direito das filhas.

10Se lhe tomar outra, não deminuirá o mantimento d'esta, nem o seu vestido, nem a sua obrigação marital.

11E se lhe não fizer estas tres coisas, sairá de graça, sem dar dinheiro.

12Quem ferir alguem, que morra, elle tambem certamente morrerá;

13Porém o que lhe não armou ciladas, mas Deus o fez encontrar nas suas mãos, ordenar-te-hei um logar, para onde elle fugirá.

14Mas se alguem se ensoberbecer contra o seu proximo, matando-o com engano, tiral-o-has do meu altar, para que morra.

15O que ferir a seu pae, ou a sua mãe, certamente morrerá.

16E quem furtar algum homem, e o vender, ou fôr achado na sua mão, certamente morrerá.

17E quem amaldiçoar a seu pae ou a sua mãe, certamente morrerá.

18E se alguns homens pelejarem, ferindo-se um ao outro com pedra ou com o punho, e este não morrer, mas cair na cama;

19Se elle tornar a levantar-se e andar fóra sobre o seu bordão, então aquelle que o feriu será absolvido: sómente lhe pagará o tempo que perdera e o fará curar totalmente.

20Se alguem ferir a seu servo, ou a sua serva com pau, e morrer debaixo da sua mão, certamente será castigado;

21Porém se ficar vivo por um ou dois dias, não será castigado, porque é seu dinheiro.

22Se alguns homens pelejarem, e ferirem uma mulher gravida, e forem causa que aborte, porém não houver morte, certamente será multado, conforme ao que lhe impuzer o marido da mulher, e pagará diante dos juizes.

23Mas se houver morte, então darás vida por vida,

24Olho por olho, dente por dente, mão por mão, pé por pé

25Queimadura por queimadura, ferida por ferida, golpe por golpe.

26E quando alguem ferir o olho do seu servo, ou o olho da sua serva, e o damnificar, o deixará ir forro pelo seu olho.

27E se tirar o dente do seu servo, ou o dente da sua serva, o deixará ir forro pelo seu dente.

28E se algum boi escornear homem ou mulher, e morrer, o boi será apedrejado certamente, e a sua carne se não comerá; mas o dono do boi será absolvido.

29Mas se o boi d'antes era escorneador, e o seu dono foi conhecedor d'isso, e não o guardou, matando homem ou mulher, o boi será apedrejado, e tambem o seu dono morrerá.

30Se lhe fôr imposto resgate, então dará por resgate da sua vida tudo quanto lhe fôr imposto,

31Quer tenha escorneado um filho, quer tenha escorneado uma filha; conforme a este estatuto lhe será feito.

32Se o boi escornear um servo, ou uma serva, dará trinta siclos de prata ao seu senhor, e o boi será apedrejado.

33Se alguem abrir uma cova, ou se alguem cavar uma cova, e não a cobrir, e n'ella cair um boi ou jumento,

34O dono da cova o pagará, ao seu dono o dinheiro restituirá; mas o morto será seu.

35Se o boi de alguem ferir o boi do seu proximo, e morrer, então se venderá o boi vivo, e o dinheiro d'elle se repartirá egualmente, e tambem o morto se repartirá egualmente.

36Mas se foi notorio que aquelle boi d'antes era escorneador, e seu dono não o guardou, certamente pagará boi por boi; porém o morto será seu

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God establishes detailed laws concerning Hebrew servants, physical violence, injuries, and liability for damage caused by animals such as oxen, forming the basis of the so-called 'Book of the Covenant.'

Explanation

This chapter, though it may seem distant from modern sensibilities, represents a significant ethical advance for its time: unlike other ancient Near Eastern legal codes, Israelite law limited the length of servitude (six years, with freedom in the seventh) and protected even servants against extreme abuse by their masters. The principle of 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth' (v. 24), often misunderstood as encouraging revenge, was actually a civilizing limit that prevented disproportionate punishment, ensuring that the penalty matched the harm caused exactly, no more and no less. The laws about oxen that cause damage show a legal system concerned with responsibility and negligence, distinguishing between unforeseeable accidents and situations where the owner already knew of the danger and failed to take precautions. The lesson for today is that biblical justice seeks balance and proportionality, protecting both victims and offenders from excess.

Fun facts

  • The law of 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth' (known as lex talionis) also appears in other ancient codes, such as the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, but the biblical code stands out for applying this principle more equally across different social classes, unlike other systems that punished differently based on the victim's social status.
  • The practice of piercing the ear of a servant who chose to remain voluntarily with his master 'forever' (v. 5-6) out of love for his family was a permanent, visible symbol of that voluntary choice, clearly distinguishing between forced servitude and a freely made relational commitment.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 21:1Introduces the block of civil laws that follows the Ten Commandments, known as the “Book of the Covenant,” dealing with practical everyday cases in Israel.
  2. Êxodo 21:2In the ancient world, debt or extreme poverty could lead someone to become a servant for a time, not a slave forever. The law here limits that time to six years: in the seventh year the Hebrew had to be freed without paying anything. It was a way of containing servitude among the Israelites themselves, setting a fixed limit for getting out of it.
  3. Êxodo 21:3Details the case of a Hebrew servant who enters servitude alone: he leaves alone after the six years, taking nothing beyond what he already had when he entered.
  4. Êxodo 21:4If the master himself had given the servant a wife during his service, that wife and any children remained the master’s property when the servant left free.
  5. Êxodo 21:5Covers the case in which the servant himself, out of attachment to the family formed there, prefers to keep living with the master instead of leaving free after six years.
  6. Êxodo 21:6This describes what happened when the servant, at the end of the six years, preferred to keep living with that master — because of the family he had formed there or the security he had. The pierced ear, done with an awl (a pointed piercing tool), was a permanent, public sign of that choice, made before the judges. It was not a punishment: it was the physical record of a commitment the servant himself asked to take on, “for ever.”
  7. Êxodo 21:7In a time with no social safety net, a very poor father could hand his daughter over to serve in a household, generally expecting that she would come to marry the owner or his son, as the following verses show. That is why her rule was different from that of the male servants: she did not go free after six years, because the logic behind her case was different, tied to a future marriage with rights the text tries to guarantee her.
  8. Êxodo 21:8If a master bought a servant girl intending to marry her himself and later changed his mind, she was to be allowed to be redeemed by her family, and he could not sell her to foreigners.
  9. Êxodo 21:9If the servant girl was meant to marry the master’s son instead of the buyer himself, she was to receive the same rights as any daughter of the household.
  10. Êxodo 21:10If the man took a second wife, the law protected the first wife’s basic rights: food, clothing, and marital relations could not be reduced.
  11. Êxodo 21:11If these three obligations were not met, the woman had the right to leave free, without having to pay anything to regain her freedom.
  12. Êxodo 21:12Establishes the death penalty for intentional homicide, the general principle that the following verses will detail with exceptions and specific cases.
  13. Êxodo 21:13Distinguishes accidental homicide from intentional homicide: whoever killed without premeditation would have a place of refuge, an idea that later becomes the cities of refuge found in other books.
  14. Êxodo 21:14There was a custom of clinging to the altar of the sanctuary to escape revenge or judgment. This verse makes clear that this refuge did not apply to someone who had killed another person on purpose and with premeditation: that person was to be taken from there anyway to answer for the crime. Someone who killed without intending to, however, had, according to the previous verse, a safe place to flee.
  15. Êxodo 21:15Physically attacking either parent was considered a crime serious enough to deserve the death penalty, reflecting the weight given to parental authority in Israel.
  16. Êxodo 21:16Kidnapping a person to sell as a slave was punished by death, in contrast with the voluntary servitude for debt seen earlier in the chapter.
  17. Êxodo 21:17Cursing one’s father or mother was likewise considered a capital crime, on the same level of seriousness as physically attacking them.
  18. Êxodo 21:18Deals with a fight between two men in which one is injured but survives and walks again — the case is settled by compensation, not by criminal punishment.
  19. Êxodo 21:19The attacker has to compensate the victim for lost work time and cover the costs of treatment until full recovery.
  20. Êxodo 21:20If a master beat a servant to death, he was to be punished — the law recognizes the servant as a person with rights, not as property without limits.
  21. Êxodo 21:21The context (previous verse) speaks of a master who beats a servant and the servant dies on the spot — in that case the master was punished. But if the servant survived a few days, the law treated the loss of that worker as punishment enough in itself, so it did not call for further penalty. This is a law that treats the servant as property with economic value, reflecting how slavery worked in the ancient world, without the text approving or condemning the practice itself.
  22. Êxodo 21:22Deals with a fight that causes a pregnant woman to miscarry without killing the mother: the penalty was a fine set by her husband and approved by the judges, not the penalty for homicide.
  23. Êxodo 21:23If the pregnant woman died because of the injury, the penalty became the same as for any homicide: life for life.
  24. Êxodo 21:24This phrase, later known as the “law of retaliation,” was not an order for people to take revenge on their own. It was the opposite: a limit the judges were to apply, making sure the punishment was proportional to the harm and never greater than it. In a time when it was common to answer an offense with disproportionate violence, this rule contained the excess.
  25. Êxodo 21:25Continues the list of proportional penalties under the law of retaliation, applying the same principle to burns, wounds, and blows in general.
  26. Êxodo 21:26If a master blinded a servant or maidservant by injuring them, the penalty was the servant’s immediate freedom as compensation for the permanent loss.
  27. Êxodo 21:27The same logic applies to the loss of a tooth: the servant gained freedom as a form of compensation for the permanent harm suffered.
  28. Êxodo 21:28If an ox with no history of violence killed someone by accident, the animal was killed (stoned) and its meat discarded, without the owner needing to be punished, since he had no way to foresee it. Killing the ox served as a way of marking that death as serious and in need of some response, even without human guilt.
  29. Êxodo 21:29If the ox already had a known history of violence and the owner had not taken precautions, both the animal and the owner could be sentenced to death for the negligence.
  30. Êxodo 21:30In this more serious case, the law allowed the victim’s family to accept a monetary ransom instead of the death penalty for the ox’s owner.
  31. Êxodo 21:31Clarifies that the same rule applies regardless of whether the victim was a son or a daughter, with no distinction of gender in how the law was applied.
  32. Êxodo 21:32Here the law sets a fixed compensation amount, thirty pieces of silver, to be paid to the owner of a servant injured or killed by another person’s ox. This amount was fixed, unlike the negotiable fine set when the victim was a free person, which shows how compensation rules in the ancient world varied according to the social status of the one harmed.
  33. Êxodo 21:33Deals with responsibility for pits or holes left open that could cause accidents with other people’s animals.
  34. Êxodo 21:34Whoever left the pit open had to compensate the owner of the injured or dead animal, but kept the dead animal itself as part of the settlement.
  35. Êxodo 21:35If two oxen fought and one died, both owners were to split equally both the value of the live ox when sold and the carcass of the dead ox.
  36. Êxodo 21:36But if the goring ox already had a known history of violence, its owner had to pay in full for a new ox, without sharing the loss.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play