Exodus 21:5
וְאִם־אָמֹר יֹאמַר הָעֶבֶד אָהַבְתִּי אֶת־אֲדֹנִי אֶת־אִשְׁתִּי וְאֶת־בָּנָי לֹא אֵצֵא חָפְשִֽׁי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאִם־אָמֹ֤ר יֹאמַר֙ הָעֶ֔בֶד אָהַ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־אֲדֹנִ֔י אֶת־אִשְׁתִּ֖י וְאֶת־בָּנָ֑י לֹ֥א אֵצֵ֖א חָפְשִֽׁי׃
ἐὰν δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἴπῃ ὁ παῖς Ἠγάπηκα τὸν κύριόν μου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ παιδία, οὐκ ἀποτρέχω ἕλεν θέρος.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Quod si dixerit servus: Diligo dominum meum et uxorem ac liberos; non egrediar liber:
Pero si el esclavo dice claramente: ‘Amo a mi señor, a mi esposa y a mis hijos; no quiero salir libre’,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y si el siervo dijere: Yo amo á mi señor, á mi mujer y á mis hijos, no saldré libre:
But if the servant declares, ‘ I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’
✦ What the text says
Summary
Exodus 21:5 gives the conditional case of a Hebrew slave who, at the end of his term of service, declares his wish to remain with his master rather than go free. The verse quotes his declaration directly: he loves his master, his wife, and his children, and does not wish to leave as a free person.
Key words
- 'a.Mor ("carefully ", H0559) — infinitive absolute paired with the finite verb yo.Mar to intensify the action; the doubling signals emphatic certainty ("if the slave should indeed say" / "plainly declare").
- yo.Mar ("he will say", H0559) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, forming the emphatic construction with the infinitive absolute above.
- 'a.Hav.ti ("I love", H0157G) — qal perfect, first person singular; a completed-aspect verb expressing a settled state of affection rather than a future or ongoing action.
- 'a.do.N ("master", H0113) — construct form of the noun, joined to the suffix -i ("my") to form "my master."
- 'e.Tze' ("I will go out", H3318G) — qal imperfect, first person singular, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), expressing the slave's refusal regarding future departure.
- cha.fe.Shi ("a free [person]", H2670) — masculine singular adjective describing the status the slave declines to take on.
What the text says
The verse opens with ve-'im ("and if") introducing a conditional clause, followed by the emphatic construction 'a.Mor yo.Mar — infinitive absolute plus finite verb of the same root H0559. This doubling in Biblical Hebrew grammar intensifies or makes emphatic the verb's action, here suggesting the slave's declaration is made plainly, deliberately, or with certainty, rather than as a passing remark.
The content of the declaration is introduced without a formal quotative marker beyond the verb yo.Mar itself, and consists of a first-person statement: 'a.Hav.ti ("I love"), a qal perfect verb marking completed or settled action — the love is presented as an existing, established state rather than something newly felt. The object of this love is listed in three parts, each marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated): "my master" ('a.do.N + suffix -i), "my wife" ('ish.T + suffix -i), and "my children" (ba.Na + suffix -i), each noun appearing in construct form governing the possessive suffix "my."
The declaration concludes with a negated imperfect verb, lo' 'e.Tze' ("I will not go out"), followed by the adjective cha.fe.Shi ("a free [person]"), stating the slave's refusal to leave in a state of freedom.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the opening emphatic construction with a participial phrase, ἀποκριθεὶς εἴπῃ ("having answered, he should say"), differing from the Hebrew's infinitive-absolute intensification. The LXX also reads ὁ παῖς ("the child/servant") where the Hebrew has ha-'E.ved ("the slave", H5650). Additionally, the LXX includes the phrase ἕλεν θέρος at the end, which does not correspond directly to a Hebrew equivalent in this word list. The Vulgate's non egrediar liber closely parallels the Hebrew's negated construction "I will not go out free."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.