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Exodus 21:25-27
New English Translation
Exodus 21:25-27
New English Translation
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.[a]
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it,[b] he will let the servant[c] go free[d] as compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant[e] go free as compensation for the tooth.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 21:25 sn The text now introduces the Lex Talionis with cases that were not likely to have applied to the situation of the pregnant woman. See K. Luke, “Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth,” Indian Theological Studies 16 (1979): 326-43.
- Exodus 21:26 tn The form וְשִׁחֲתָהּ (veshikhatah) is the Piel perfect with the vav (ל) consecutive, rendered “and destroys it.” The verb is a strong one, meaning “to ruin, completely destroy.”
- Exodus 21:26 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Exodus 21:26 sn Interestingly, the verb used here for “let him go” is the same verb throughout the first part of the book for “release” of the Israelites from slavery. Here, an Israelite will have to release the injured slave.
- Exodus 21:27 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
New English Translation (NET)
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