VERSE STUDY • KJV

Exodus 21:1-6

¹ Now these [are] the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ² If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³ If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵ And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: ⁶ Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

Read it in 5 translations

KJV King James Version

¹ Now these [are] the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ² If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³ If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵ And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: ⁶ Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

BSB Berean Standard Bible

¹ “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them: ² If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. ³ If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. ⁵ But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ ⁶ then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.

WEB World English Bible

¹ “Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. ² “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. ³ If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵ But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

ASV American Standard Version

¹ Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. ² If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³ If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master give him a wife and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵ But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: ⁶ then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

YLT Young’s Literal Translation

¹ And these are the judgments which thou dost set before them: ² ‘When thou buyest a Hebrew servant—six years he doth serve, and in the seventh he goeth out as a freeman for nought; ³ if by himself he cometh in, by himself he goeth out; if he is owner of a wife, then his wife hath gone out with him; ⁴ if his lord give to him a wife, and she hath borne to him sons or daughters—the wife and her children are her lord’s, and he goeth out by himself. ⁵ ‘And if the servant really say: I have loved my lord, my wife, and my sons—I do not go out free; ⁶ then hath his lord brought him nigh unto God, and hath brought him nigh unto the door, or unto the side-post, and his lord hath bored his ear with an awl, and he hath served him—to the age.

Surrounding context — Exodus 21

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

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

3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

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