Exodus 21 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Hæc sunt judicia quæ propones eis.
1 “Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them:
2 Si emeris servum hebræum, sex annis serviet tibi: in septimo egredietur liber gratis.
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 Cum quali veste intraverit, cum tali exeat: si habens uxorem, et uxor egredietur simul.
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 Sin autem dominus dederit illi uxorem, et pepererit filios et filias: mulier et liberi ejus erunt domini sui, ipse vero exibit cum vestitu suo.
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 Quod si dixerit servus: Diligo dominum meum et uxorem ac liberos; non egrediar liber:
5 But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’
6 offeret eum dominus diis, et applicabitur ad ostium et postes, perforabitque aurem ejus subula: et erit ei servus in sæculum.
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 forever.
7 Si quis vendiderit filiam suam in famulam, non egredietur sicut ancillæ exire consueverunt.
7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
8 Si displicuerit oculis domini sui cui tradita fuerat, dimittet eam: populo autem alieno vendendi non habebit potestatem, si spreverit eam.
8 If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9 Sin autem filio suo desponderit eam, juxta morem filiarum faciet illi.
9 If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
10 Quod si alteram ei acceperit, providebit puellæ nuptias, et vestimenta, et pretium pudicitiæ non negabit.
10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
11 Si tria ista non fecerit, egredietur gratis absque pecunia.
11 If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
12 Qui percusserit hominem volens occidere, morte moriatur.
12 “One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
13 Qui autem non est insidiatus, sed Deus illum tradidit in manus ejus, constituam tibi locum in quem fugere debeat.
13 but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
14 Si quis per industriam occiderit proximum suum, et per insidias: ab altari meo evelles eum, ut moriatur.
14 If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15 Qui percusserit patrem suum aut matrem, morte moriatur.
15 “Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16 Qui furatus fuerit hominem, et vendiderit eum, convictus noxæ, morte moriatur.
16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17 Qui maledixerit patri suo, vel matri, morte moriatur.
17 “Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18 Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit alter proximum suum lapide vel pugno, et ille mortuus non fuerit, sed jacuerit in lectulo:
18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed;
19 si surrexerit, et ambulaverit foris super baculum suum, innocens erit qui percusserit, ita tamen ut operas ejus et impensas in medicos restituat.
19 if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20 Qui percusserit servum suum, vel ancillam virga, et mortui fuerint in manibus ejus, criminis reus erit.
20 “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished.
21 Sin autem uno die vel duobus supervixerit, non subjacebit pœnæ, quia pecunia illius est.
21 Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property.
22 Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit quis mulierem prægnantem, et abortivum quidem fecerit, sed ipsa vixerit: subjacebit damno quantum maritus mulieris expetierit, et arbitri judicaverint.
22 “If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.
23 Sin autem mors ejus fuerit subsecuta, reddet animam pro anima,
23 But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
24 oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, manum pro manu, pedem pro pede,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 adustionem pro adustione, vulnus pro vulnere, livorem pro livore.
25 burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26 Si percusserit quispiam oculum servi sui aut ancillæ, et luscos eos fecerit, dimittet eos liberos pro oculo quem eruit.
26 “If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27 Dentem quoque si excusserit servo vel ancillæ suæ, similiter dimittet eos liberos.
27 If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
28 Si bos cornu percusserit virum aut mulierem, et mortui fuerint, lapidibus obruetur: et non comedentur carnes ejus, dominus quoque bovis innocens erit.
28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
29 Quod si bos cornupeta fuerit ab heri et nudiustertius, et contestati sunt dominum ejus, nec recluserit eum, occideritque virum aut mulierem: et bos lapidibus obruetur, et dominum ejus occident.
29 But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
30 Quod si pretium fuerit ei impositum, dabit pro anima sua quidquid fuerit postulatus.
30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.
31 Filium quoque et filiam si cornu percusserit, simili sententiæ subjacebit.
31 Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
32 Si servum ancillamque invaserit, triginta siclos argenti domino dabit, bos vero lapidibus opprimetur.
32 If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 Si quis aperuerit cisternam, et foderit, et non operuerit eam, cecideritque bos aut asinus in eam,
33 “If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
34 reddet dominus cisternæ pretium jumentorum: quod autem mortuum est, ipsius erit.
34 the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35 Si bos alienus bovem alterius vulneraverit, et ille mortuus fuerit: vendent bovem vivum, et divident pretium, cadaver autem mortui inter se dispertient.
35 “If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
36 Sin autem sciebat quod bos cornupeta esset ab heri et nudiustertius, et non custodivit eum dominus suus: reddet bovem pro bove, et cadaver integrum accipiet.
36 Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 4:14; Deuteronomy 6:20; Exodus 24:3–4; Psalm 147:19; Matthew 28:20
- 2 Deuteronomy 15:12–15; Exodus 12:44; Deuteronomy 15:18; Nehemiah 5:1–5; Deuteronomy 15:1
- 3 Deuteronomy 15:12–14
- 5 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; Deuteronomy 15:16–17; Isaiah 26:13
- 6 Deuteronomy 15:17; Leviticus 25:40; Deuteronomy 19:17–18; 1 Samuel 28:2; 1 Samuel 27:12
- 7 Nehemiah 5:5; Exodus 21:2–3
- 8 Judges 14:3; Judges 9:19; Malachi 2:11–15; Genesis 28:8; Deuteronomy 21:11–14
- 10 1 Corinthians 7:1–6
- 12 Genesis 9:6; Matthew 26:52; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:30–31; Numbers 35:16–24
- 13 Joshua 20:2–9; 1 Samuel 24:18; Deuteronomy 19:1–13; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; 1 Samuel 24:10
- 14 1 Kings 2:28–34; Hebrews 10:26; Deuteronomy 1:43; 1 Kings 1:50–51; Numbers 15:30–31
- 15 Proverbs 30:11; Deuteronomy 21:18–21; 1 Timothy 1:9; Deuteronomy 27:24; Proverbs 30:17
- 16 Deuteronomy 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10; Exodus 22:4; Genesis 37:28; Genesis 40:15
- 17 Proverbs 20:20; Mark 7:10–11; Matthew 15:3–6; Deuteronomy 27:16; Proverbs 30:11
- 18 Exodus 21:20; Exodus 2:13; Deuteronomy 25:11; 2 Samuel 14:6; Numbers 35:16–24
- 19 2 Samuel 3:29; Zechariah 8:4
- 20 Proverbs 29:19; Deuteronomy 19:21; Isaiah 58:3–4; Numbers 35:30–33; Romans 13:4
- 21 Leviticus 25:44–46
- 22 Deuteronomy 22:18–19; Exodus 21:30; Deuteronomy 16:18
- 23 Deuteronomy 19:21; Numbers 35:31; Leviticus 24:19
- 24 Deuteronomy 19:21; Matthew 7:2; Matthew 5:38–40; Leviticus 24:19–20; Revelation 16:6
- 26 Nehemiah 5:5; Job 31:13–15; Colossians 4:1; Psalm 72:12–14; Exodus 21:20
- 28 Exodus 21:32; Genesis 9:5–6; Leviticus 20:15–16
- 29 Deuteronomy 21:1–9
- 30 Exodus 21:22; Exodus 30:12; Numbers 35:31–33; Proverbs 13:8
- 32 Zechariah 11:12–13; Matthew 26:15; Matthew 27:3–9; Genesis 37:28; Philippians 2:7
- 33 Jeremiah 18:22; Proverbs 28:10; Psalm 9:15; Ecclesiastes 10:8; Jeremiah 18:20
- 34 Exodus 21:29–30; Exodus 22:6; Exodus 22:14
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For, "honor," saith He, "thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest live long upon the earth." And again, "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." But He, omitting the first, the reward appointed for them that honor their parents, states that which is more awful, the punishment, I mean, threatened to such as dishonor them; …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… put no obstacle to godliness in our way, if we are ever carried away by ingratitude, and, forgetting their benefits to us, hold them in contempt, then the oracle will have place which says, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)