Exodus 21:9

Summary

The verse addresses a case where a female servant is designated for the master's son rather than for himself. In that case, the text states that she must be treated according to the established practice applied to daughters.

Key words

• yi'adennah ("he will designate", H3259) — Qal imperfect with third-person feminine singular suffix ("her"); expresses a future/ongoing action performed by a masculine subject ("he") upon a feminine object.
• mishpat ("custom/judgment of", H4941H) — masculine singular construct noun; the construct form links it to the following word, producing "custom of the daughters."
• ha-banot ("the daughters", H1323G) — feminine plural noun with the definite article ha (H9009), marking a specific, known group ("the daughters") rather than daughters in general.
• ya'aseh ("he will do/make", H6213A) — Qal imperfect, third-person masculine singular; a second verb of action distinct from yi'adennah, describing what the subject must carry out afterward.
• bo / veno ("his son", H1121A + H9023) — construct noun "son of" plus possessive suffix "his," identifying the recipient of the designation.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional construction ve-'im ("and if", H9002 + H0518A), marking this as one case in a sequence of legal conditions. The condition itself is built around li-veno ("for his son") followed by yi'adennah ("he will designate her"): the preposition li (H9005) attaches to ven ("son", H1121A) with the suffix o ("his", H9023), indicating that the action described by the verb applies specifically toward the son. The verb yi'adennah carries its own object suffix -nah ("her", H9034) directly attached, so the Hebrew compresses "he will designate her" into a single word.

The consequence clause begins with ke-mishpat ha-banot — literally "according to the custom/judgment of the daughters." The construct chain mishpat + ha-banot joins the noun "custom" to a definite plural noun "the daughters," so the phrase points to an established, specific practice rather than a general one. The final verb ya'aseh-lah ("he will do/make for her") uses the same imperfect verbal pattern as yi'adennah, again with a feminine object suffix (-lah, H9034 via H9005), placing the required action toward her: the subject "he" must act toward her following that referenced practice.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yi'adennah as καθομολογήσηται ("he will formally engage/betroth her"), which frames the designation explicitly in terms of betrothal language, while the Hebrew verb yi'adennah (H3259) more broadly means "to designate/appoint." The Vulgate's desponderit ("he will have betrothed") aligns closely with the LXX's betrothal sense. The Hebrew mishpat (H4941H, "custom/judgment") is translated by the LXX as δικαίωμα ("ordinance/right") and by the Vulgate as morem ("custom, manner"), showing a shift in emphasis between a legal-normative sense (LXX) and a customary-practice sense (Vulgate), both derived from the same underlying Hebrew term.