Year of the Bible
Exodus 21
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Commentary on the Book of Exodus, Chapter 21:
After setting the stage of the people’s relationship with God and with one another in the Ten Commandments (chapter 20), God now begins to apply these commands to specific situations based on ancient cultural realities. Chapter 21 is the first chapter of these laws, and it deals primarily with situations of justice where the actions of one impact another physically. These include justice due to slaves. Some slaves were Jews who lived as indentured servants paying off debts, and other slaves were foreigners who were owned by their Jewish masters. Other laws reveal that one must take responsibility for one’s actions, even the actions of one’s animals! Overall, God’s justice is meant to be even-handed (“eye for eye, tooth for tooth”) and not ignoring a situation (requiring no eye for an eye) nor allowing excessive revenge (requiring both eyes for one eye).
The Book of Exodus, Chapter 21:
Laws concerning Slaves
1 “Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in 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 alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘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 he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt faithlessly with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
Laws concerning Violence and Harm
12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
16 “Whoever steals a man, whether he sells him or is found in possession of him, shall be put to death.
17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.
18 “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but keeps his bed, 19 then if the man rises again and walks abroad with his staff, he that struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.
20 “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be punished; for the slave is his money.
22 “When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free for the eye’s sake. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free for the tooth’s sake.
28 “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be clear. 29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid upon him. 31 If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. 32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 “When a man leaves a pit open, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.
35 “When one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead beast also they shall divide. 36 Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
Even through these antiquated systems of justice, we see their attempts to weave mercy in. Lord, how tightly do I cling to earthly possessions or grudges? Help me to see your higher laws at work.
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.
ȃstas son las normas que les
expondrás:
2 «Cuando adquieras un esclavo hebreo,
te servirá seis años y al séptimo
quedará libre sin pagar; 3 si entró solo,
solo saldrá; si estaba casado, su mujer
saldrá con él. 4 Pero si fue el dueño quien
le dio esposa, y de ella hubieran nacido
hijos o hijas, la mujer y los hijos serán del
dueño y él saldrá solo. 5 Si el esclavo dijera
con insistencia: «Amo a mi dueño,
a mi mujer y a mis hijos, no quiero quedar
libre», 6 entonces su dueño lo llevará
ante Dios y, acercándolo a la puerta o a la
jamba, le perforará la oreja con un punzón
y así será su esclavo para siempre.
7 »Cuando un hombre venda a su hija
como esclava, ésta no saldrá de la esclavitud
como salen los varones. 8 Si cayera
en desgracia a los ojos de su dueño
para quien estaba destinada, éste le permitirá
ser rescatada; no podrá venderla
a un pueblo extranjero y ser desleal con
ella. 9 Si la destina para su hijo, la tratará
como a una hija suya. 10 Si toma otra
nueva mujer, no le negará a la primera
ni la comida ni el vestido ni el derecho
conyugal; 11 si no le proporciona esas cosas,
ella podrá marcharse de balde, sin
pagar dinero.
12 »El que hiera a un hombre causándole
la muerte deberá morir. 13 Si no estaba
al acecho, sino que Dios permitió
que cayera a manos de él, yo te mostraré
un lugar donde pueda refugiarse; 14 pero
si por odio uno llega a matar a su prójimo
con alevosía, hasta de mi altar lo
arrancarás para darle muerte.
15 »El que hiera a su padre o a su madre
deberá morir.
16 »El que rapte a un hombre, tanto si
lo ha vendido como si lo tiene en su poder,
deberá morir.
17 »El que maldiga a su padre o a su
madre deberá morir.
18 »Cuando dos hombres riñan, y
uno hiere a su prójimo con una piedra o
con el puño y no muere pero tiene que
guardar cama: 19 si se levanta y puede ca
minar por la calle apoyado en su cayado,
el que le hirió quedará exculpado;
sólo tendrá que pagar lo que haya perdido
por la enfermedad y los gastos de
la curación.
20 »Cuando uno golpee con un bastón
a su esclavo o a su esclava, y mueren
a manos del dueño, será reo de venganza;
21 pero si sobrevive un día o dos,
no será reo, puesto que es parte de su
hacienda.
22 »Cuando algún hombre, en el fragor
de una riña, golpee a una mujer embarazada
provocándole el parto, pero
sin causar más daño, el culpable será
multado según lo que imponga el marido
de la mujer y decidan los magistrados.
23 Pero si se sigue algún daño, pagarás
vida por vida, 24 ojo por ojo, diente
por diente, mano por mano, pie por pie,
25 quemadura por quemadura, herida
por herida, contusión por contusión.
26 »Cuando uno golpee a su esclavo
o a su esclava en un ojo, y los deja tuertos,
los dejará libres en compensación
del ojo. 27 Y si le hace saltar un diente a
su esclavo o a su esclava, le dejará libre
en compensación del diente.
28 »Cuando un buey cornee a un
hombre o a una mujer, y le causa la
muerte, será apedreado; no se comerá
su carne, pero el dueño quedará exculpado.
29 Pero si el buey ya corneaba antes
y su dueño, aun sabiéndolo no lo tenía
vigilado, en caso de que el buey mate a
un hombre o a una mujer, el buey será
apedreado y también su dueño será
reo de muerte. 30 Y si al dueño le imponen
una compensación, pagará el precio
que le hayan impuesto por conservar
la vida. 31 Si cornea a un niño o a una
niña, se actuará según la misma norma.
32 Pero si el buey cornea a un siervo o a
una sierva, se pagarán treinta siclos de
plata al dueño del esclavo, y el buey será
apedreado.
33 »Cuando uno abra un pozo o excave
una cisterna y no lo tape, y cae allí
un buey o un asno, 34 el propietario de la
cisterna pagará con dinero: resarcirá al
dueño de los animales, y la res muerta
será para él.
35 »Cuando un buey cornee a otro
buey y le cause la muerte, venderán el
buey vivo y se repartirán el dinero; y
también se repartirán la res muerta.
36 Pero si era notorio que el buey corneaba
antes y su dueño no lo tenía vigilado,
éste deberá pagar buey por buey y el
animal muerto será para él.
37 »Cuando uno robe un buey o una
oveja y lo mata o lo vende, pagará cinco
reses de ganado mayor por el buey
y cuatro reses de ganado menor por la
oveja
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).