Exodus 21:3
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.
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,’
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.
- KJV
- If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
- WEB
- If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
- ASV
- If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
- DARBY
- If he came in alone, he shall go out alone: if he had a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.
- BLB
- If he comes in by himself, by himself he shall go out; if he [is] husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.
- ÅB
- Dersom han kommer enslig, da skal han gå enslig bort; dersom han er gift mann, da skal hans hustru gå bort med ham.
- OTB
- Hvis han kommer alene, skal han dra alene; men hvis han er gift, skal hans kone dra med ham.
- B1930
- Dersom han kommer enslig, da skal han gå enslig bort; dersom han er gift mann, da skal hans hustru gå bort med ham.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Deuteronomy 15:12–14
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.
Read in context