Exodus 21:7
New International Version
“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.

New Living Translation
“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.

English Standard Version
“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

Berean Standard Bible
And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.

King James Bible
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

New King James Version
“And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

New American Standard Bible
“Now if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

NASB 1995
“If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

NASB 1977
“And if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

Legacy Standard Bible
“And if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.

Amplified Bible
“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go free [after six years] as male servants do.

Christian Standard Bible
“When a man sells his daughter as a concubine, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.

American Standard Version
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And when a man will sell his daughter as a Maidservant, she will not go out as Men Servants will leave.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And if any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maid-servants depart.

Contemporary English Version
A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out.

English Revised Version
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Whenever a man sells his daughter into slavery, she will not go free the way male slaves do.

Good News Translation
"If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to be set free, as male slaves are.

International Standard Version
"When a man sells his daughter as a servant, she won't go out as the male servants do.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.

Literal Standard Version
And when a man sells his daughter for a handmaid, she does not go out according to the going out of the menservants;

Majority Standard Bible
And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.

New American Bible
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do.

NET Bible
"If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do.

New Revised Standard Version
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

New Heart English Bible
"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.

Webster's Bible Translation
And if a man shall sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not depart as the men-servants do.

World English Bible
“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.

Young's Literal Translation
'And when a man selleth his daughter for a handmaid, she doth not go out according to the going out of the men-servants;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Laws for Servants
6then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life. 7And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. 8If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.…

Cross References
Exodus 21:2
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

Exodus 21:3
If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.

Exodus 21:6
then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.

Exodus 21:8
If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.

Nehemiah 5:5
We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others."


Treasury of Scripture

And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

sell

Nehemiah 5:5
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

go out

Exodus 21:2,3
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing…

Jump to Previous
Bondmen Daughter Depart Female Free Gives Handmaid Maidservant Maid-Servant Male Menservants Men-Servants Price Sell Selleth Sells Servant Servants Slave Slaves
Jump to Next
Bondmen Daughter Depart Female Free Gives Handmaid Maidservant Maid-Servant Male Menservants Men-Servants Price Sell Selleth Sells Servant Servants Slave Slaves
Exodus 21
1. Laws for men servants
5. For the servant whose ear is bored
7. For women servants
12. For manslaughter
16. For kidnappers
17. For cursers of parents
18. For smiters
22. For a hurt by chance
28. For an ox that gores
33. For him who is an occasion of harm














(7) If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant.--The right of selling their children into slavery was regarded in ancient times as inherent in the patria potestas, and was practised largely by many nations (Herod. v. 6; Heyne, Opusc., vol. iv., p. 125). Among the Hebrews such sales were, comparatively speaking, rare; but still they occasionally took place, in consequence of extreme poverty (Nehemiah 5:5). Women sold in this way might claim their freedom at the end of six years if they chose (Deuteronomy 15:17); but if purchased to be wives, they received a further protection. If the intention were carried out, they were to be entitled to the status of wives during their whole lifetime, even though their husbands contracted further marriages (Exodus 21:10). If, instead of becoming the wife of her purchaser, a woman was made over by him to his son, she was to enjoy all the rights of a daughter (Exodus 21:9). If the purchaser declined to act in either of these two ways, he was compelled to take one of two other courses. Either he must get another Hebrew to discharge his obligation of marriage (Exodus 21:8), or he must return the maid intact to her father, without making any demand for the restitution of the purchase-money (Exodus 21:11). These provisions afforded a considerable protection to the slave-concubine, who might otherwise have been liable to grievous wrong and oppression. . . . Verse 7. - If a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant. Among ancient nations the father' s rights over his children were generally regarded as including the right to sell them for slaves. In civilised nations the right was seldom exercised; but what restrained men was rather a sentiment of pride than any doubt of such sales being proper. Many barbarous nations, like the Thracians (Herod. 5:6), made a regular practice of selling their daughters. Even at Athens there was a time when sales of children had been common (Plut. Vit. Solon. § 13). Existing custom, it is clear, sanctioned such sales among the Hebrews, and what the law now did was to step in and mitigate the evil consequences. (Compare the comment on verse 2.) These were greatest in the case of females. Usually they were bought to be made the concubines, or secondary wives of their masters. If this intention were carried out, then they were to be entitled to their status and maintenance as wives during their lifetime, even though their husband took another (legitimate) wife (ver. 10). If the retention was not carried out, either the man was to marry her to one of his sons (ver. 9), or he was to sell his rights over her altogether with his obligations to another Hebrew; or he was to send her back at once intact to her father' s house, without making any claim on him to refund the purchase-money. These provisos may not have furnished a remedy against all the wrongs of a weak, and, no doubt, an oppressed class; but they were important mitigations of the existing usages, and protected the slave-concubine to a considerable extent.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And if
וְכִֽי־ (wə·ḵî-)
Conjunctive waw | Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

a man
אִ֛ישׁ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

sells
יִמְכֹּ֥ר (yim·kōr)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4376: To sell

his daughter
בִּתּ֖וֹ (bit·tōw)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1323: A daughter

as a servant,
לְאָמָ֑ה (lə·’ā·māh)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 519: A maidservant, female slave

she is not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to go free
תֵצֵ֖א (ṯê·ṣê)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

as the menservants do.
הָעֲבָדִֽים׃ (hā·‘ă·ḇā·ḏîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5650: Slave, servant


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OT Law: Exodus 21:7 If a man sells his daughter (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 21:6
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