Exodus 21:3

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

If, by himself, he came in, by himself, shall he go out, - if he was married, then shall his wife go out with him.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.

King James Version
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Lexham English Bible
If he comes in single, he will go out single. If he is the husband of a wife, his wife will go out with him.

New Century Version
If he is not married when he becomes your slave, he must leave without a wife. But if he is married when he becomes your slave, he may take his wife with him.

New English Translation
If he came in by himself he will go out by himself; if he had a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him.

Amplified Bible
"If he came [to you] alone, he shall leave alone; if he came married, then his wife shall leave with him.

New American Standard Bible
"If he comes alone, he shall leave alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall leave with him.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If he came himselfe alone, he shall goe out himselfe alone: if hee were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Legacy Standard Bible
If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

Contemporary English Version
If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom.

Complete Jewish Bible
If he came single, he is to leave single; if he was married when he came, his wife is to go with him when he leaves.

Darby Translation
If he came in alone, he shall go out alone: if he had a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

Easy-to-Read Version
If he is not married when he becomes your slave, when he becomes free, he will leave without a wife. But if the man is married when he becomes your slave, then he will keep his wife at the time he is made free.

English Standard Version
If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

George Lamsa Translation
If he came in single, he shall go out single; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Good News Translation
If he was unmarried when he became your slave, he is not to take a wife with him when he leaves; but if he was married when he became your slave, he may take his wife with him.

Christian Standard Bible®
If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him.

Literal Translation
If he comes in with his body, he shall go out with his body. If he was the husband of a wife, his wife shall go out with him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf he came alone, then shal he go out alone also: but yf he came maried, then shall his wife go out with him.

American Standard Version
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Bible in Basic English
If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away with him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If he came alone, he shall go out alone: and yf he came maryed, his wyfe shall go out with hym.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

King James Version (1611)
If he came in by himselfe, he shal goe out by himselfe: if he were married, then his wife shall goe out with him.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If he should have come in alone, he shall also go forth alone; and if his wife should have gone in together with him, his wife also shall go out.

English Revised Version
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Berean Standard Bible
If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
with out prijs; with what maner clooth he entride, with siche clooth go he out; if he entride hauynge a wijf, and the wijf schal go out to gidere.

Young's Literal Translation
if by himself he cometh in, by himself he goeth out; if he [is] owner of a wife, then his wife hath gone out with him;

Update Bible Version
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Webster's Bible Translation
If he came in by himself, he shall depart by himself: if he was married, then his wife shall depart with him.

World English Bible
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.

New King James Version
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

New Living Translation
If he was single when he became your slave, he shall leave single. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife must be freed with him.

New Life Bible
If he comes alone, he will leave by himself. If he is married, then his wife will leave with him.

New Revised Standard
If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him.

Revised Standard Version
If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

Contextual Overview

¹ Now, these are the regulations which thou shalt put before them. ² When thou shalt acquire a servant who is a Hebrew, six years, shall he serve, - but in the seventh shall he go out freely - for nought. ³ If, by himself, he came in, by himself, shall he go out, - if he was married, then shall his wife go out with him. ⁴ If his lord gave him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her lords, and, he shall go out by himself. ⁵ But, if the servant shall plainly say, I love my lord, and my wife and my sons, - I will not go out free, ⁶ then shall his lord bring him near unto God, and shall bring him near unto the door, or unto the door-post, - and his lord shall pierce his ear with an awl, so shall he serve him all his life. ⁷ And when a man shall sell iris daughter to be a handmaid, she shall not go out according to the out-going of the men-servants, ⁸ If she is uncomely in the eyes of her lord, who hath not assigned her in marriage, then shall he suffer her to be redeemed: to a strange people, shall he not have power to sell her in that he hath dealt treacherously with her. ⁹ And if to his soul he assign her, according to the custom for daughters, shall he do for her. ¹⁰ If he take to himself another, her food her clothing, and her marriage-right, shall he not withdraw.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

by himself: Heb. with his body, Deuteronomy 15:12-14

Reciprocal: Exodus 21:7 - go out Leviticus 25:40 - General Leviticus 25:41 - then shall Leviticus 25:54 - then

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
And God said - Truly, Sarah thy wife, is about to bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name, Isaac, - and I will establish my covenant with him as an age-abiding covenant, to his seed after him.

Genesis 21:6
And Sarah said, A laughing, hath God made for me, - Everyone that heareth will laugh with me.

Genesis 21:12
And God said unto Abraham Let it not be grievous in thine eyes concerning the boy and concerning thy bondwoman, In all that Sarah may say unto thee, hearken to her voice, - For in Isaac, shall there be called to thee - a seed.

Genesis 22:2
And he said - Take, I pray thee, thy son, thine only one, whom thou lovest, even, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah and cause him to ascend there as an ascending-sacrifice, on one of the mountains which I shall name unto thee.

Joshua 24:3
So I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, - and multiplied his seed, and gave unto him, Isaac;

Matthew 1:2
Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob, begat Judah and his brethren;

Acts 7:8
And he gave unto him a covenant of circumcision; and, thus, he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

Romans 9:7
Neither, because they are seed of Abraham, are all children, - but, In Isaac, shall there be called unto thee a seed.

Hebrews 11:18
Even him of whom it had been said - In Isaac, shall there be called to thee, a seed:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself,.... That is, if he came into his servitude "alone", as the Septuagint version has it, he should go out of it in like manner; the word for "by himself", some interpret with "his garment" f, or the skirt of one; and then the sense seems to be, that as he was clothed when he was sold, so he should be when made free: but rather the phrase literally is "with his body" g; not his naked body, or as destitute of raiment, and the necessaries of life; for, as before observed, his master was to furnish him liberally with good things: but the plain meaning is, that if he was a single or unmarried man when he entered his master's service, he should go out, so; or as a Jewish writer h expresses it, as if he should say, with his body, without another body with him, who is his wife, as appears by what follows; unless his master should give him a wife while in his service, which is supposed in the next verse, and even then he was to go out alone, if he chose to go out at all; though Jarchi says, if he was not married at first, his master might not give him a Canaanitish woman to beget slaves of her:

if he were married, then his wife shall go with him; that is, if he had a wife, a daughter of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan; or an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and had her at his coming; for otherwise, if it was one his master after gave him, she might not go out, as appears by the following verse; but being his wife before his servitude, and an Israelitish woman, was not the master's bondmaid, nor bought with his money, and therefore might go out free with her husband.

f בגפו "cum quali veste", V. L. "cum veste sua"; some in Vatablus Drusius. g "Cum corpore suo", Munster, Pagninus, Vatablus, Drusius "solus corpore suo", Junius Tremellius "cum solo corpore suo", Piscator. h R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 15. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husband’s term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 21:3. If he came in by himself — If he and his wife came in together, they were to go out together: in all respects as he entered, so should he go out. This consideration seems to have induced St. Jerome to translate the passage thus: Cum quali veste intraverat, cum tali exeat. "He shall have the same coat in going out, as he had when he came in," i.e., if he came in with a new one, he shall go out with a new one, which was perfectly just, as the former coat must have been worn out in his master's service, and not his own.