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Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Exodus 21:15

"Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Assault and Battery;   Children;   Mother;   Punishment;   Thompson Chain Reference - Children;   Home;   Ungrateful Children;   The Topic Concordance - Execution;   Parents;   Violence;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Children;   Children, Wicked;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Father;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Family Life and Relations;   Law;   Murder;   Punishment;   Teach, Teacher;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Murder;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Children;   Father;   Law;   Punishments;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Capital Punishment;   Crimes and Punishments;   Exodus, Book of;   Hammurabi;   Mother;   Pentateuch;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Child, Children;   Covenant, Book of the;   Ethics;   Hexateuch;   Law;   Leviticus;   Priests and Levites;   Sabbatical Year;   Sin;   Slave, Slavery;   Ten Commandments;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Children;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Father;   Law of Moses;   Punishments;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Other Laws;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Child;   Covenant, the Book of the;   Crime;   Education;   Hammurabi, the Code of;   Husband;   Mother;   Murder;   Punishments;   Relationships, Family;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Blessing of Children;   Capital Punishment;   Family and Family Life;   Father;   Fear of Man;   Mother;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
King James Version
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Lexham English Bible
And whoever strikes his father or his mother will surely be put to death.
New Century Version
"Anyone who hits his father or his mother must be put to death.
New English Translation
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must surely be put to death.
Amplified Bible
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.
New American Standard Bible
"And one who strikes his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Also hee that smiteth his father or his mother, shall die the death.
Legacy Standard Bible
"And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Contemporary English Version
Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Whoever attacks his father or mother must be put to death.
Darby Translation
And he that striketh his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death.
Easy-to-Read Version
"Whoever hits their father or their mother must be killed.
English Standard Version
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
George Lamsa Translation
He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Good News Translation
"Whoever hits his father or his mother is to be put to death.
Christian Standard Bible®
“Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.
Literal Translation
And he who strikes his father or his mother dying shall die.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who so smyteth his father or mother, shall dye the death.
American Standard Version
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Bible in Basic English
Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He that smyteth his father or his mother, let hym be slayne for it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
King James Version (1611)
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall bee surely put to death.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.
English Revised Version
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Berean Standard Bible
He who strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that smytith his fadir, ether modir, die by deeth.
Young's Literal Translation
`And he who smiteth his father or his mother is certainly put to death.
Update Bible Version
And he that smites his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
World English Bible
"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
New King James Version
"And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
New Living Translation
"Anyone who strikes father or mother must be put to death.
New Life Bible
"Whoever hits his father or his mother will be put to death.
New Revised Standard
Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, he that smiteth his father or his mother, shall, surely be put to death.
Douay-Rheims Bible
He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.
THE MESSAGE
"If someone hits father or mother, the penalty is death.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

Contextual Overview

12 "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. 15 "Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. 16 "Whoever steals a man, whether he sells him or is found in possession of him, shall be put to death. 17 "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. 18 "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but keeps his bed, 19 then if the man rises again and walks abroad with his staff, he that struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed. 20 "When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be punished; for the slave is his money.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

To smite either father or mother, in a manner which indicated either contempt or malice, or left marks of violence, was deemed a proof of so ungrateful and unnatural a disposition, that no provocation was admitted as an excuse, but the offence was made capital: nay, he who cursed his father or mother, who uttered imprecations, ill wishes, or revilings, against a parent, was included in the same sense; though few crimes were made capital by the law of Moses. The law of God, as delegated to parents is honoured when they are honoured, and despised when they are despised, and to rebel against the lawful exercise of this authority is rebellion against God. - Rev. T. Scott Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Deuteronomy 27:24, Proverbs 30:11, Proverbs 30:17, 1 Timothy 1:9

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:12 - Honour Leviticus 19:3 - fear

Cross-References

Genesis 21:1
The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.
Genesis 21:3
Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.
Genesis 21:14
So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
Genesis 21:22
At that time Abim'elech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do;
Genesis 21:25
When Abraham complained to Abim'elech about a well of water which Abim'elech's servants had seized,
2 Kings 3:9
So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the beasts which followed them.
Psalms 63:1
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.
Isaiah 44:12
The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint.
Jeremiah 14:3
Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he that smiteth his father or his mother,.... With his fist, or with a stick, or cane, or such thing, though they died not with the blow, yet it occasioned any wound, or caused a bruise, or the part smitten black and blue, or left any print of the blow; for, as Jarchi says, the party was not guilty, less by smiting there was a bruise, or weal, made, or any mark or scar: but if so it was, then he

shall be surely put to death; the Targum of Jonathan adds, with the suffocation of a napkin; and so Jarchi says with strangling; the manner of which was this, the person was sunk into a dunghill up to his knees, and two persons girt his neck with a napkin or towel until he expired. This crime was made capital, to show the heinousness of it, how detestable it was to God, and in order to deter from it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The following offences were to be punished with death:

Striking a parent, compare Deuteronomy 27:16.

Cursing a parent, compare the marginal references.

Kidnapping, whether with a view to retain the person stolen, or to sell him, compare the marginal references.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 21:15. That smiteth his father, or his mother — As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.


 
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