Exodus 21 · Verse 1

Exodus 21:1

Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Exodus 21:1, King James Version

Exodus 21:1 in other translations

BSB“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
WEB“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them:
ASVNow these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
YLT‘And these are the judgments which thou dost set before them:
DARBYAnd these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
BBENow these are the laws which you are to put before them.
WebsterNow these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

What does Exodus 21:1 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Ex 21:1-6. Laws for Menservants.

1. judgments--rules for regulating the procedure of judges and magistrates in the decision of cases and the trial of criminals. The government of the Israelites being a theocracy, those public authorities were the servants of the Divine Sovereign, and subject to His direction. Most of these laws here noticed were primitive usages, founded on principles of natural equity, and incorporated, with modifications and improvements, in the Mosaic code.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Introduction

Laws concerning servants. They shall serve for only seven years, Exo 21:1, Exo 21:2. If a servant brought a wife to servitude with him, both should go out free on the seventh year, Exo 21:3. If his master had given him a wife, and she bore him children, he might go out free an the seventh year, but his wife and children must remain, as the property of the master, Exo 21:4. If, through love to his master, wife, and children, he did not choose to avail himself of the privilege granted by the law, of going out free on the seventh year, his ear was to be bored to the door post with an awl, as an emblem of his being attached to the family for ever, Exo 21:5, Exo 21:6. Laws concerning maid-servants, betrothed to their masters or to the sons of their masters, Exo 21:7-11. Laws concerning battery and murder, Exo 21:12-15. Concerning men-stealing, Exo 21:16. Concerning him that curses his parents, Exo 21:17. Of strife between man and man, Exo 21:18, Exo 21:19; between a master and his servants, Exo 21:20, Exo 21:21. Of injuries done to women in pregnancy, Exo 21:22. The Lex Talionis, or law of like, Exo 21:23-25. Of injuries done to servants, by which they gain the right of freedom, Exo 21:26, Exo 21:27. Laws concerning the ox which has gored men, Exo 21:28-32. Of the pit left uncovered, into which a man or a beast has fallen, Exo 21:33, Exo 21:34. Laws concerning the ox that kills another, Exo 21:35, Exo 21:36. Verse 1 Now these are the judgments - There is so much good sense, feeling, humanity, equity, and justice in the following laws, that they cannot but be admired by every intelligent reader; and they are so very plain as to require very little comment. The laws in this chapter are termed political, those in the succeeding chapter judicial, laws; and are supposed to have been delivered to Moses alone, in consequence of the request of the people, Exo 20:19, that God should communicate his will to Moses, and that Moses should, as mediator, convey it to them.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 21:1-11
The laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they differ from our times and customs, nor are they binding on us, yet they explain the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. The servant, in the state of servitude, was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, which man is brought into by robbing God of his glory, by the transgression of his precepts. Likewise in being made free, he was an emblem of that liberty wherewith Christ, the Son of God, makes free from bondage his people, who are free indeed; and made so freely, without money and without price, of free grace.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Exodus 21:1 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ve.'E.lehand theseH428
הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔יםha.mish.pa.Tim[are] the judgmentsH4941
אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.SherwhichH834
תָּשִׂ֖יםta.Simyou will setH7760
לִפְנֵיהֶֽם\׃lif.nei.Hem<to> before themH6440

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 21:1

  • Deuteronomy 4:14

    And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

  • Deuteronomy 6:20

    And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?

  • Exodus 24:3-4

    And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

  • Psalms 147:19

    He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

  • Matthew 28:20

    Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

  • Leviticus 20:22

    Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.

  • Nehemiah 10:29

    They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;

  • Leviticus 19:37

    Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.

  • Deuteronomy 5:1

    And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

  • Deuteronomy 4:5

    Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

  • Ezekiel 20:25

    Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

  • Deuteronomy 6:1

    Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1 Laws for men servants.
5 For the servant whose ear is bored.
7 For women servants.
12 For manslaughter.
16 For stealers of men.
17 For cursers of parents.
18 For smiters.
22 For a hurt by chance.
28 For an ox that gores.
33 For him that is an occasion of harm.

the judgments.
Le 18:5,26; 19:37; 20:22; Nu 35:24; 36:13; De 5:1,31; 6:20; 1Ki 6:12
2Ch 19:10; Ne 9:13,14; 10:29; Ps 147:19; Eze 20:11,25; Mal 4:4
which.
19:7; 24:3,4; De 4:5,8,14,45; 6:20; Mt 28:20; 1Th 4:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 21:1

    Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

  • Exodus 21:2

    If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Read all of Exodus 21

Exodus 21:1 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y ESTOS son los derechos que les propondrás.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		*Ce sont ici les jugements que tu placeras devant eux:
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und dies sind die Rechte, die du ihnen vorlegen sollst:
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Hæc sunt judicia quæ propones eis.