Exodus 21 · Verse 15

Exodus 21:15

And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

Exodus 21:15, King James Version

Exodus 21:15 in other translations

BSB	Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
WEB	“Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
ASV	And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
YLT	‘And he who smiteth his father or his mother is certainly put to death.
DARBY	And he that striketh his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death.
BBE	Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.
Webster	And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

What does Exodus 21:15 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 15 That smiteth his father, or his mother - As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 21:12-21

God, who by his providence gives and maintains life, by his law protects it. A wilful murderer shall be taken even from God's altar. But God provided cities of refuge to protect those whose unhappiness it was, and not their fault, to cause the death of another; for such as by accident, when a man is doing a lawful act, without intent of hurt, happens to kill another. Let children hear the sentence of God's word upon…

Read the full comment on Exodus 21:12-21 →

Exodus 21:15 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.

וּמַכֵּ֥הu.ma.Kehand [one who] will strikeH5221

אָבִ֛יו'a.Viv<of> father hisH1

וְאִמּ֖וֹve.'i.Moand mother hisH517

מ֥וֹתMotcertainly <to die>H4191

יוּמָֽת\׃yu.Mathe will be put to deathH4191

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

Cross references for Exodus 21:15

Proverbs 30:11
There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
1 Timothy 1:9
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
Deuteronomy 27:24
Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Proverbs 30:17
The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

To smite either father or mother, in a manner which indicated either contempt or malice, or left marks of violence, was deemed a proof of so ungrateful and unnatural a disposition, that no provocation was admitted as an excuse, but the offence was made capital: nay, he who cursed his father or mother, who uttered imprecations, ill wishes, or revilings, against a parent, was included in the same sense; though few crimes were made capital by the law of Moses. The law of God, as delegated to parents is honoured when they are honoured, and despised when they are despised: and to rebel against the lawful exercise of this authority is rebellion against God.--Rev. T. Scott
De 21:18-21; 27:24; Pr 30:11,17; 1Ti 1:9

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

Context

Exodus 21:14
But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
Exodus 21:15
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Exodus 21:16
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Read all of Exodus 21

Exodus 21:15 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y el que hiriere á su padre ó á su madre, morirá.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et celui qui frappera son père ou sa mère sera certainement mis à mort.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und wer seinen Vater oder seine Mutter schlägt, soll gewißlich getötet werden.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Qui percusserit patrem suum aut matrem, morte moriatur.