Exodus 21:2

American Standard Version (1901)

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד עִבְרִי שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים יַעֲבֹד וּבַשְּׁבִעִת יֵצֵא לַחָפְשִׁי חִנָּם

Transliteration

kî tiqneh ʿebed ʿibrî six shānîm yaʿabōd û-ba-shĕbîʿit yēṣēʾ la-chophshî chinnām

Grammar Details

• *kî*: conjunction - when/if
• *tiqneh*: qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular - you buy/acquire
• *ʿebed*: masculine singular noun - servant/slave
• *ʿibrî*: masculine singular adjective - Hebrew
• *shānîm*: feminine plural noun - years
• *yaʿabōd*: qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he shall serve
• *û-ba-shĕbîʿit*: conjunction *wə* + preposition *bə* + definite article + feminine singular noun - and in the seventh
• *yēṣēʾ*: qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he shall go out/depart
• *la-chophshî*: preposition *lə* + masculine singular noun - to freedom/as a free man
• *chinnām*: adverb - without payment/freely/for nothing

Word Meanings

• *ʿebed*: servant/slave/bondman
• *yēṣēʾ*: he shall go out/depart/be released
• *chinnām*: without payment/freely/gratuitously/for nothing

Referenced Verses

• Deut 15:12-15 : 12 If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 13 And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty: 14 thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day.
• Deut 15:18 : 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling hath he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.
• Neh 5:1-5 : 1 Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2 For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get grain, that we may eat and live. 3 Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth. 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage [already] : neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
• Neh 5:8 : 8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, that were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word.
• Jer 34:8-9 : 8 The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; 9 that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, that is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondmen of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother. 10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, that had entered into the covenant, that every one should let his man-servant, and every one his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go: 11 but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. 12 Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 13 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, 14 At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee, and hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 but ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and ye brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. 17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: ye have not hearkened unto me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim unto you a liberty, saith Jehovah, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.
• Matt 18:25 : 25 But forasmuch as he had not [wherewith] to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
• 1 Cor 6:20 : 20 for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.
• Deut 31:10 : 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
• 2 Kgs 4:1 : 1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear Jehovah: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen.
• Gen 27:28 : 28 And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and new wine:
• Gen 27:36 : 36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
• Exod 12:44 : 44 but every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
• Exod 22:3 : 3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him; he shall make restitution: if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
• Lev 25:39-45 : 39 And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant. 40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee: 41 then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God. 44 And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land: and they shall be your possession.
• Deut 15:1 : 1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.