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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
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If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Exodus 21:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 28:8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.
- Exodus 8:29 Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you. I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only don’t let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh.”
- Deuteronomy 20:7 What man is there who has pledged to be married to a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.”
- Deuteronomy 21:11-14 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife, then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.
- Judges 9:19 if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;
- Judges 14:3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
- Malachi 2:11-15 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies. This again you do: you cover Yahweh’s altar with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand. Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant. Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
- 1 Samuel 8:6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 18:8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have creditd David with ten thousands, and they have only credited me with thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?”
- Job 6:15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By giving another money to buy her of him.
By giving another money to buy her of him.
Or, deflowered her.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 21:8 If she please not her master, who…
Exo 21:8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
Ver. 8. He hath dealt deceitfully with her.] By not answering her expectation. This God tolerated for the hardness of their hearts, but approved not.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who hath betrothed her to himself, for a concubine…
Who hath betrothed her to himself, for a concubine or secondary wife. Not that masters did always take maid-servants upon these terms, as some conceive; but that some did so, and of them this place speaks. Though here is a differing reading; and as the margin hath lo the pronoun, signifying to him, so the text hath lo the adverb, signifying not; and so the text may be translated thus, so that he doth not betroth her, to wit, to himself, or to his son, as he gave her hopes he intended. Either reading or sense is proper and probable.
Then shall he let her be redeemed, either by herself or friends, or any other person that will redeem her.
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Quest. How could he part with her, and sell her, when she was betrothed to him?
Answ. 1. This might be one of those many indulgences given to them for the hardness of their hearts; and there is no doubt God could dispense with his own positive laws.
2. The latter reading avoids this difficulty.
To sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power: this was in general prohibited for all Hebrew servants, but it is particularly mentioned here, because there was special reason for it; both because there was more danger of her corruption in chastity and religion in regard of her sex, and because the master in that case was under a greater temptation of selling her to a foreigner, because no Israelite would buy her, or give so much money for her as a heathen would, who would and might keep her for a perpetual servant, which the Israelites might not do.
He hath dealt deceitfully with her, viz. in breaking his promise of marriage made to her, or blasting the hopes he encouraged her to have of it. The Hebrew words are exactly rendered thus, in dealing deceitfully or falsely with her or against her; and they may be added as an aggravation of that sin of selling her to a strange nation, wherein there was a double false dealing; the one towards God, who by his law forbad this; the other towards her, whom he hired upon other terms, and not with a power to dispose of her contrary to the law and manner of the Israelites.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If she please not her master,.... "Be evil in…
If she please not her master,.... "Be evil in the eyes of her master" (p); and he has no liking of her, and love to her, not being agreeable in her person, temper, or conduct, so that he does not choose to make her his wife:
who hath betrothed her to him; but not completed the marriage, as he promised, when he bought her, or at least gave reason to expect that he would; for, according to the Jewish canons, a Hebrew handmaid might not be sold but to one who laid himself under obligation to espouse her to himself, or his son, when she was fit to be betrothed (q); and so Jarchi says, he ought to espouse her, and take her to be his wife, for the money of her purchase is the money of her espousals. There is a double reading of this passage, the Keri, or marginal reading we follow; the Cetib, or written text, is, "who hath not betrothed her", both may be taken in, "who hath not betrothed her to him", as he said he would, or as it was expected he should; for, had she been really betrothed, what follows could not have been done:
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then shall he let her be redeemed; she being at age, and fit for marriage, and her master not caring to marry her, her father shall redeem her, as the Targum of Jonathan; it was incumbent on him to do that, as it was on her master to let her be redeemed, to admit of the redemption of her; or whether, as Aben Ezra says, she redeemed herself, or her father, or one of her relations, if she was near the six years (the end of them), they reckoned how many years she had served, and how many were yet to the seventh, or to the time that she is in her own power, and according to the computation was the redemption: thus, for instance, as it is by others (r) put, if she was bought for six pounds, then one pound is the service of every year; and if she redeemed herself, her master took off of the money for the years she had served; or thus (s), if she was bought for sixty pence, and had served two years, he must pay her forty pence, and so free her:
to sell her unto a strange nation, he shall have no power; that is, to another man, as both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, even to an Israelite that was of another family, to whom the right of redemption did not belong; for to sell an Israelite, man or woman, to a Gentile, or one of another nation, was not allowed of in any case, as Josephus (t) observes; but the meaning is, he had no power to sell her to another, though of the same nation, to be his handmaid; this power neither her master nor her father had, as Jarchi asserts, she being redeemed, and in her own power:
seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her; in not fulfilling his promise made to her father when he sold her to him, or not answering the expectation he had raised in her; and especially he dealt thus with her, if he had corrupted her, and yet refused to betroth and marry her.
(p) "mala in oculis", Montanus; "mala videbitur in oculis", Junius & Tremellius; "mala fuerit in oculis", Drusius. (q) Maimon. Hilchot Abadim, c. 4. sect. 11. & in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 2. (r) Bartenora in Kiddush. ib. (s) Maimon. in ib. (t) Antiqu. l. 16. c. 1. sect. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Who hath betrothed her to himself - For a…
Who hath betrothed her to himself - For a concubine, or secondary Wife. Not that Masters always took Maid-servants on these terms.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 21:8. Who hath betrothed her to himself —…
Exo 21:8. Who hath betrothed her to himself — For a concubine, or secondary wife. Not that masters always took maid-servants on those terms. Then shall he let her be redeemed — Either by herself or her friends, or any other person that will redeem her. To sell her to a strange nation he shall have no power — This was prohibited, because a heathen would keep her for a perpetual servant, which the Israelites might not do.
Seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her — In breaking his promise of marriage made to her, or in disappointing the hopes he had encouraged her to entertain of it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Please not her master — Hebrews, if she…
8. Please not her master — Hebrews, if she be evil in the eyes of her master. If he discover some defect in her, or find her less attractive and useful to him than he had expected.
Dealt deceitfully with her — The purchase implied the pledge of marriage or concubinage, with its legal rights. These involved obligations which, if not met, exposed to the charge of deceitful dealing.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. First special case under the general law of…
8. First special case under the general law of v. 7: if a woman, bought with the intention of being made her master’s concubine, does not please her master, he must let her be redeemed, and he has no power to sell her into foreign slavery.
who hath designated (2Sa_20:5; Jer_47:7) her for himself] viz. at the time when he bought her: ‘for himself’ is shewn by its position in the Heb. to be emphatic; it is opposed to ‘for his son’ in v. 9, The marg. (לא for לו) may be disregarded, if only because yâ‘ad does not mean to ‘espouse’: to ‘designate’ a woman for any one may indeed be equivalent to ‘to espouse,’ but that does not justify ‘designate,’ used absolutely, being rendered ‘espouse.’
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let her be redeemed] by her father, or other relative, if able to do so: she had been bought to become a concubine, and had consequently certain rights. If however the woman’s relatives did not redeem her, her master was apparently at liberty to sell her to another Israelite; for the following clause only forbids him to sell her into foreign servitude. Of course, the woman is not to be supposed to have actually become her master’s concubine: in this case, if he found he did not like her, he would have to give her her freedom unconditionally (cf. v. 11).
strange] foreign, the now obsolete sense of ‘strange’ noticed on Exo_2:22.
deceitfully] or untruly, viz. in not making her his concubine, as it was understood, when he bought her, that he would do.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) Who hath betrothed her to himself.—The reading is…
(8) Who hath betrothed her to himself.—The reading is to be preferred which gives the opposite sense—“who hath not betrothed her;” and the meaning is, “If the man, after purchasing the woman to be his wife, finds that he does not like her, and refuses to go through the ceremony of betrothal”—
Then shall he let her be redeemed.—Heb., then let him cause her to be redeemed: i.e., let him provide some one to take his place, and carry out his contract, only taking care that the substitute be a Hebrew, and not one of “a strange nation,” since her father did not intend to have her wed a foreigner.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If she please not her master. If he decline,…
If she please not her master. If he decline, i.e. , to carry out the contract, and take her for his wife. Then let her be redeemed. Rather, "Then let him cause her to be redeemed." Let him, i.e. , look out for some one who will buy her of him and take his obligation of marriage off his hands To sell her to a strange nation he shall not have power. Only, this purchaser must be a Hebrew, like himself, and not a foreigner, since her father consented to her becoming a slave only on the condition of her being wedded to a Hebrew. Seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. By professing to take her as a secondary wife, and not carrying out the contract.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.