What Does Exodus 21:11 Mean in the King James?
And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Her freedom is not a debt she must pay off: when the named obligations fail, she goes out free without money.
THE MEANING
If the three obligations named just before this are withheld, she goes out free without paying anything. Her release does not depend on her ability to reimburse the one who holds her. The verse makes her freedom the consequence of those failures, not a price she must produce.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a person in bondage must purchase her own freedom: here, she leaves without money when the named obligations are withheld.
THE ROOT
חָפְשִׁי
ḥophshî
GROWS FROM
חפשׁ
To be free, released from service.
The Hebrew names a released status, not a payment or favor from the one who holds her. Her freedom stands alongside her going out: she leaves the service and is free of its claim.
ALSO GROWS
ḥophshî: Free, released from service.
חָפְשִׁי
This is the word for her status when she goes out; the release is explicit.
ḥōpheš: Freedom or release from servitude.
חֹפֶשׁ
This related form makes freedom a state of release, not something she has to buy.
וְיָצְאָה
veyats’ah
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out, come forth, or leave.
“go out” in this verse is veyats’ah. The verse describes freedom as an actual departure from the condition holding her. The same root can describe being brought out, so the English phrase holds movement and release together.
ALSO GROWS
yetsi’ah: A going out or departure.
יְצִיאָה
Her freedom takes the form of leaving; it is not only an inward state.
hotsi’: To bring out or lead out.
הוֹצִיא
This causative form shows the same root can name release as being brought out of a constrained place.
THE PATTERN
Release is an exit from bondage, and the person bound is not made to pay the price of that freedom.
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.THE THREAD
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.The same Hebrew roots for “go out” (יצא, yatsa) and “free” (חָפְשִׁי, ḥophshî) appear in this chapter’s earlier release rule. The repeated phrase “for nothing” shows that the person leaving is not charged for her freedom.
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