Exodus 12:25

12:25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe ¹  this ceremony.

Exodus 21:4

21:4 If his master gave ²  him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself.

Exodus 21:19

21:19 and then ³  if he gets up and walks about ⁴  outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay ⁵  for the injured person’s ⁶  loss of time ⁷  and see to it that he is fully healed.

Exodus 21:32

21:32 If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner ⁸  must pay thirty shekels of silver, ⁹  and the ox must be stoned. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 22:7

22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles ¹¹  for safekeeping, ¹²  and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, ¹³  he must repay double.

[12:25]  ¹ tn The verb used here and at the beginning of v. 24 is שָׁמַר (shamar); it can be translated “watch, keep, protect,” but in this context the point is to “observe” the religious customs and practices set forth in these instructions.

[21:4]  ² sn The slave would not have the right or the means to acquire a wife. Thus, the idea of the master’s “giving” him a wife is clear – the master would have to pay the bride price and make the provision. In this case, the wife and the children are actually the possession of the master unless the slave were to pay the bride price – but he is a slave because he got into debt. The law assumes that the master was better able to provide for this woman than the freed slave and that it was most important to keep the children with the mother.

[21:19]  ³ tn “and then” has been supplied.

[21:19]  ⁴ tn The verb is a Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the sequence of the imperfect before it – “if he gets up and walks about.” This is proof of recovery.

[21:19]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense carries a nuance of obligatory imperfect because this is binding on the one who hit him.

[21:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the injured person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:19]  ⁷ tn The word appears to be the infinitive from the verb “to sit” with a meaning of “his sitting down”; some suggest it is from the verb “to rest” with a meaning “cease.” In either case the point in the context must mean compensation is due for the time he was down.

[21:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:32]  ⁵ sn A shekel was a unit for measure by means of a scale. Both the weight and the value of a shekel of silver are hard to determine. “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11,5 grams” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181). Over four hundred years earlier, Joseph was sold into Egypt for 20 shekels. The free Israelite citizen was worth about 50 shekels (Lev 27:3f.).

[21:32]  ⁶ sn See further B. S. Jackson, “The Goring Ox Again [Ex. 21,28-36],” JJP 18 (1974): 55-94.

[22:7]  ⁵ tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.

[22:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.

[22:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “found.”