Exodus 21:4

Study note

Setting — The text addresses the Israelite community regarding a Hebrew slave who completes a six-year term. It specifies the property rights over a wife and children provided by the master when the slave’s service ends.

The words — The Hebrew term אֲדֹנָיו (adonav) means “his master,” and יִתֵּן (yiten) translates as “he will give,” establishing the master’s provision of the marriage. The phrase וְיָלְדָה (veyaladah) literally reads “and she will bear,” marking the condition that triggers the children’s status.

The thread — This household property rule recurs in Leviticus 25:46, which extends the principle to foreign slaves, and Deuteronomy 15:12–18, which contrasts the Exodus rule with a voluntary retention clause. Jeremiah 34:8–22 later references these manumission statutes when Judah’s leaders violate the covenant.

Why it lands — The text plainly assigns ownership of the wife and offspring to the master while granting the man his freedom. It requires readers to confront how ancient legal codes tied personal liberty to household economics without romanticizing the arrangement.

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.