Exodus 21:6

Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

In Context

5But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:

7And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.

Read all of Exodus 21

Cross References

Exodus 12:12For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.

Exodus 21:22If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.

Exodus 22:28You may not say evil of the judges, or put a curse on the ruler of your people.

Leviticus 25:40But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till the year of Jubilee;

Deuteronomy 1:16And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.

Deuteronomy 16:18You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.

Matthew Henry on Exodus 21:2-12

Judicial Laws. ( b. c. 1491.) 1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 And if the servant shall plainly say,… Read the whole commentary →

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