Bible Strands
Exodus 21:20
If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the Israelite assembly through Moses, legislating civil conduct for a community transitioning from Egyptian bondage. The words — The verb יַכֶּה (ya.kkeh) translates literally as "he strikes," acting upon the direct object markers preceding עַבְדּוֹ (avdo, "his slave") and אֲמָתוֹ (amato, "his female slave"). The thread — This statute intersects with the lex talionis principle in Deuteronomy 19:21, contrasts with the property exemption in Exodus 21:21, and aligns with the lethal accountability motif in Genesis 4:15. Why it lands — The text explicitly mandates that an owner who strikes a bound laborer with a rod and causes death must be punished, establishing that unlawful lethal violence carries a life-for-life penalty regardless of ownership status.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 19:21 You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
- Proverbs 29:19 A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.
- Genesis 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
- Genesis 4:24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
- Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Exodus 21:26 If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.
- Numbers 35:19 The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.
- Numbers 35:30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.
- Isaiah 58:3 “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
- Romans 13:4 For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.