Exodus 21:2

World English Bible (2000)

"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.

📖 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 your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: 14 you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today.
• Deut 15:18 : 18 It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.
• Neh 5:1-5 : 1 Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers 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 famine." 4 There were also some who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. Neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards."
• Neh 5:8 : 8 I said to them, "We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?" Then they held their peace, and found never a word.
• Jer 34:8-9 : 8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; 9 that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondservants of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother. 10 All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant, and everyone his female servant, go free, that none should make bondservants 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 Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 13 Thus says Yahweh, 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 you shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn't listen to me, neither inclined their ear. 15 You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 but you turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids. 17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
• Matt 18:25 : 25 But because he couldn't pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
• 1 Cor 6:20 : 20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
• Deut 31:10 : 10 Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tents,
• 2 Kgs 4:1 : 1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves."
• Gen 27:28 : 28 God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
• Gen 27:36 : 36 He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
• Exod 12:44 : 44 but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
• Exod 22:3 : 3 If the sun has risen on him, guilt of bloodshed shall be for him; he shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
• Lev 25:39-45 : 39 "'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee: 41 then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God. 44 "'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.
• Deut 15:1 : 1 At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.