What Does Exodus 21:4 Mean?
If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children are her master's, and he goes out with only his body.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.THE KEY
The man is allowed to leave, but the family the master gives him does not leave with him.
THE MEANING
You meet a release that splits a household: the man leaves, while his wife and children remain the master’s property. His departure carries no release for them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A man’s release automatically frees his household; here, he leaves alone while his wife and children remain his master’s.
THE ROOT
יֵצֵא
yēṣēʾ
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ṣ-ʾ
To go out, emerge, or come forth.
“go out” in this verse is yēṣēʾ. The verb names a real departure, while the surrounding words limit who leaves: the man goes out alone. The root lets the movement and its boundary stay visible together; his wife and children remain the master’s property.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi'ah: An exit or departure.
יְצִיאָה
It makes clear that the verse describes an actual leaving, though the man’s family does not leave with him.
motsa: A source, outlet, or point from which something comes out.
מוֹצָא
This branch draws attention to what the departure produces: the man exits, but his wife and children remain under the master’s claim.
יִתֶּן
yitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“gives” in this verse is yitten. The wife’s entry into the verse comes through the master’s act of giving; the same root also forms the word for a gift. The line then names the ownership that governs this arrangement: she and her children remain the master’s.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, put, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb used for the master giving the man a wife.
mattanah: A gift or thing given.
מַתָּנָה
The related noun echoes the verse’s language of giving, set beside its explicit claim of ownership.
THE PATTERN
A departure can be real while freedom remains incomplete, so Scripture names who leaves with the person and what is still bound.
If he comes in with only his body, he goes out with only his body; if he is married, then his wife goes out with him.And he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and he shall turn back to his family, and to the holding of his fathers he shall turn back.The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.THE THREAD
If he comes in with only his body, he goes out with only his body; if he is married, then his wife goes out with him.The same verb, יצא (yatsa, to go out), marks the departure in both verses. Exodus 21:3 says the wife leaves with him if he entered married; here, the wife is given by the master and the man leaves alone.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us