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the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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THE MESSAGE

Exodus 21:1

"These are the laws that you are to place before them:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Servant;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Exodus;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ethics;   Justice;   Slave;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Work;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Judgments of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Economic Life;   Exodus, Book of;   Hammurabi;   Pentateuch;   Slave/servant;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Covenant, Book of the;   Ethics;   Exodus;   Hexateuch;   Law;   Leviticus;   Priests and Levites;   Sabbatical Year;   Sin;   Slave, Slavery;   Stranger;   Ten Commandments;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Exodus, the Book of;   Pentateuch;   Sabbatical Year;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ceremonies and the Ceremonial Law;   Gentile;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
King James Version
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Lexham English Bible
"And these are the regulations that you will set before them.
New Century Version
Then God said to Moses, "These are the laws for living that you will give to the Israelites:
New English Translation
"These are the decisions that you will set before them:
Amplified Bible
"Now these are the ordinances (laws) which you shall set before the Israelites:
New American Standard Bible
"Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:
Geneva Bible (1587)
Now these are the lawes, which thou shalt set before them:
Legacy Standard Bible
"Now these are the judgments which you are to set before them:
Contemporary English Version
The Lord gave Moses the following laws for his people:
Complete Jewish Bible
"These are the rulings you are to present to them:
Darby Translation
And these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then God said to Moses, "These are the other laws that you will give to the people:
English Standard Version
"Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.
George Lamsa Translation
NOW these are the judgments which you shall set before them.
Good News Translation
"Give the Israelites the following laws:
Christian Standard Bible®
“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
Literal Translation
And these are the judgments which you shall put before them:
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
These are the lawes, that thou shalt laye before them.
American Standard Version
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
Bible in Basic English
Now these are the laws which you are to put before them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
These art the lawes whiche thou shalt set before them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
King James Version (1611)
Now these are the Iudgements which thou shalt set before them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.
English Revised Version
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Berean Standard Bible
These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
These ben the domes, whiche thou schalt sette forth to hem.
Young's Literal Translation
`And these [are] the judgments which thou dost set before them:
Update Bible Version
Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
Webster's Bible Translation
Now these [are] the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
World English Bible
"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
New King James Version
Deuteronomy 15:12-18">[xr] "Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:
New Living Translation
"These are the regulations you must present to Israel.
New Life Bible
"Now these are the Laws which you are to give them.
New Revised Standard
These are the ordinances that you shall set before them:
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, these are the regulations which thou shalt put before them.
Douay-Rheims Bible
These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Revised Standard Version
"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:

Contextual Overview

1 "These are the laws that you are to place before them: 2"When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years. The seventh year he goes free, for nothing. If he came in single he leaves single. If he came in married he leaves with his wife. If the master gives him a wife and she gave him sons and daughters, the wife and children stay with the master and he leaves by himself. But suppose the slave should say, ‘I love my master and my wife and children—I don't want my freedom,' then his master is to bring him before God and to a door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl, a sign that he is a slave for life. 7"When a man sells his daughter to be a handmaid, she doesn't go free after six years like the men. If she doesn't please her master, her family must buy her back; her master doesn't have the right to sell her to foreigners since he broke his word to her. If he turns her over to his son, he has to treat her like a daughter. If he marries another woman, she retains all her full rights to meals, clothing, and marital relations. If he won't do any of these three things for her, she goes free, for nothing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the judgments: Leviticus 18:5, Leviticus 18:26, Leviticus 19:37, Leviticus 20:22, Numbers 35:24, Numbers 36:13, Deuteronomy 5:1, Deuteronomy 5:31, Deuteronomy 6:20, 1 Kings 6:12, 2 Chronicles 19:10, Nehemiah 9:13, Nehemiah 9:14, Nehemiah 10:29, Psalms 147:19, Ezekiel 20:11, Ezekiel 20:25, Malachi 4:4

which: Exodus 19:7, Exodus 24:3, Exodus 24:4, Deuteronomy 4:5, Deuteronomy 4:8, Deuteronomy 4:14, Deuteronomy 4:45, Deuteronomy 6:20, Matthew 28:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:1

Reciprocal: Exodus 34:32 - he gave Ezra 7:26 - whether it be Nehemiah 5:5 - we Psalms 19:9 - judgments Jeremiah 34:14 - At the Acts 7:38 - who

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.
Genesis 18:10
One of them said, "I'm coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
Genesis 21:17
Meanwhile, God heard the boy crying. The angel of God called from Heaven to Hagar, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy and knows the fix he's in. Up now; go get the boy. Hold him tight. I'm going to make of him a great nation."
Genesis 21:20
God was on the boy's side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer. He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
Genesis 50:24
At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, "I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Exodus 3:16
"Now be on your way. Gather the leaders of Israel. Tell them, ‘ God , the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, "I've looked into what's being done to you in Egypt, and I've determined to get you out of the affliction of Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, a land brimming over with milk and honey."'
Ruth 1:6
One day she got herself together, she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home; she had heard that God had been pleased to visit his people and give them food. And so she started out from the place she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law with her, on the road back to the land of Judah.
1 Samuel 2:21
God was most especially kind to Hannah. She had three more sons and two daughters! The boy Samuel stayed at the sanctuary and grew up with God .
Psalms 12:6
God's words are pure words, Pure silver words refined seven times In the fires of his word-kiln, Pure on earth as well as in heaven. God , keep us safe from their lies, From the wicked who stalk us with lies, From the wicked who collect honors For their wonderful lies.
Psalms 106:4
Remember me, God , when you enjoy your people; include me when you save them; I want to see your chosen succeed, celebrate with your celebrating nation, join the Hallelujahs of your pride and joy!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now these are the judgments,.... The judicial laws respecting the civil state of the people of Israel, so called because they are founded on justice and equity, and are according to the judgment of God, whose judgment is according to truth; and because they are such by which the commonwealth of Israel was to be judged or governed, and were to be the rule of their conduct to one another, and a rule of judgment to their judges in the execution of judgment and justice among them:

which thou shall set before them; besides the ten commands before delivered. They were spoken by God himself in the hearing of the people; these were delivered to Moses after he went up to the mount again, at the request of the people, to be their mediator, to be by him set before them as the rule of their behaviour, and to enjoin them the observance of them; in order to which he was not only to rehearse them, but to write them out, and set them in a plain and easy light before them: and though they did not hear these with their own ears from God himself, as the ten commands; yet, as they had the utmost reason to believe they came from him, and it was at their own request that he, and not God, might speak unto them what was further to be said, with a promise they would obey it, as if they had immediately heard it from him; it became them to receive these laws as of God, and yield a cheerful obedience to them; nor do we find they ever questioned the authority of them; and as their government was a Theocracy, and God was more immediately their King than he was of any other people, it was but right, and what might be expected, that they should have their civil laws from him, and which was their privilege, and gave them the preference to all other nations, Deuteronomy 4:5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Judgments - i. e. decisions of the law.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXI

Laws concerning servants. They shall serve for only seven

years, 1, 2.

If a servant brought a wife to servitude with him, both should go

out free on the seventh year, 3.

If his master had given him a wife, and she bore him children, he

might go out free an the seventh year, but his wife and children

must remain, as the property of the master, 4.

If, through love to his master, wife, and children, he did not

choose to avail himself of the privilege granted by the law, of

going out free on the seventh year, his ear was to be bored to the

door post with an awl, as an emblem of his being attached to the

family for ever, 5, 6.

Laws concerning maid-servants, betrothed to their masters or to

the sons of their masters, 7-11.

Laws concerning battery and murder, 12-15.

Concerning men-stealing, 16.

Concerning him that curses his parents, 17.

Of strife between man and man, 18, 19;

between a master and his servants, 20, 21.

Of injuries done to women in pregnancy, 22.

The LEX TALIONIS, or law of like, 23-25.

for injuries done to servants, by which they gain the right of

freedom, 26, 27.

Laws concerning the ox which has gored men, 28-32.

Of the pit left uncovered, into which a man or a beast has

fallen, 33, 34.

Laws concerning the ox that kills another, 35, 36.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXI

Verse Exodus 21:1. Now these are the judgments — There is so much good sense, feeling, humanity, equity, and justice in the following laws, that they cannot but be admired by every intelligent reader; and they are so very plain as to require very little comment. The laws in this chapter are termed political, those in the succeeding chapter judicial, laws; and are supposed to have been delivered to Moses alone, in consequence of the request of the people, Exodus 20:19, that God should communicate his will to Moses, and that Moses should, as mediator, convey it to them.


 
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