Exodus 21 · Verse 27

Exodus 21:27

And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

Exodus 21:27, King James Version

Exodus 21:27 in other translations

BSB	And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
WEB	If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
ASV	And if he smite out his man-servant’s tooth, or his maid-servant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
YLT	and if a tooth of his man-servant or a tooth of his handmaid he knock out, as a freeman he doth send him away for his tooth.
DARBY	And if he knock out his bondman's tooth or his handmaid's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth.
BBE	Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his tooth.
Webster	And if he shall smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

What does Exodus 21:27 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 27 If he smite out his - tooth - It was a noble law that obliged the unmerciful slaveholder to set the slave at liberty whose eye or tooth he had knocked out. If this did not teach them humanity, it taught them caution, as one rash blow might have deprived them of all right to the future services of the slave; and thus self-interest obliged them to be cautious and circumspect.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 21:22-36

The cases here mentioned give rules of justice then, and still in use, for deciding similar matters. We are taught by these laws, that we must be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly. If we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make it good, and be desirous that nobody may lose by us.

Read the full comment on Exodus 21:22-36 →

Exodus 21:27 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.

וְאִם\־ve.'im-and ifH518

שֵׁ֥ןshen[the] tooth ofH8127

עַבְדּ֛וֹav.Do[male] slave hisH5650

אֽוֹ\־'ov-orH176

שֵׁ֥ןshen[the] tooth ofH8127

אֲמָת֖וֹ'a.ma.Tofemale slave hisH519

יַפִּ֑ילya.Pilhe will knock outH5307

לַֽחָפְשִׁ֥יla.cha.fe.Shito <the> free [person]H2670

יְשַׁלְּחֶ֖נּוּye.shal.le.Che.nuhe will set free himH7971

תַּ֥חַתTa.chatin place ofH8478

שִׁנּֽוֹ\׃\ \פshi.Notooth hisH8127

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

Context

Exodus 21:26
And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
Exodus 21:27
And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
Exodus 21:28
If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

Read all of Exodus 21

Exodus 21:27 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y si sacare el diente de su siervo, ó el diente de su sierva, por su diente le dejará ir libre.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	et s’il fait tomber la dent de son serviteur ou la dent de sa servante, il les laissera aller libres pour la dent.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und wenn er den Zahn seines Knechtes oder den Zahn seiner Magd ausschlägt, so soll er ihn frei entlassen um seinen Zahn.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Dentem quoque si excusserit servo vel ancillæ suæ, similiter dimittet eos liberos.