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Sunday, July 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Exodus 21:15

"Whoever hits his father or his mother is to 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.
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.
Revised Standard Version
"Whoever strikes his father or his 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 hits someone and kills him is to be put to death. 13 But if it was an accident and he did not mean to kill him, he can escape to a place which I will choose for you, and there he will be safe. 14 But when someone gets angry and deliberately kills someone else, he is to be put to death, even if he has run to my altar for safety. 15 "Whoever hits his father or his mother is to be put to death. 16 "Whoever kidnaps someone, either to sell him or to keep him as a slave, is to be put to death. 17 "Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. 18"If there is a fight and someone hits someone else with a stone or with his fist, but does not kill him, he is not to be punished. If the one who was hit has to stay in bed, but later is able to get up and walk outside with the help of a cane, the one who hit him is to pay for his lost time and take care of him until he gets well. 20 "If a slave owner takes a stick and beats his slave, whether male or female, and the slave dies on the spot, the owner is to be punished. 21 But if the slave does not die for a day or two, the master is not to be punished. The loss of his property is punishment enough.

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 blessed Sarah, as he had promised,
Genesis 21:3
Abraham named him Isaac,
Genesis 21:14
Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Genesis 21:22
At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
Genesis 21:25
Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
2 Kings 3:9
So King Joram and the kings of Judah and Edom set out. After marching seven days, they ran out of water, and there was none left for the men or the pack animals.
Psalms 63:1
O God, you are my God, and I long for you. My whole being desires you; like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you.
Isaiah 44:12
The metalworker takes a piece of metal and works with it over a fire. His strong arm swings a hammer to pound the metal into shape. As he works, he gets hungry, thirsty, and tired.
Jeremiah 14:3
The rich people send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; they come back with their jars empty. Discouraged and confused, they hide their faces.

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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