Exodus 21:10

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Exodus 21:10 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Exodus 21:10 — American Standard Version

Context — Exodus 21

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
10If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“If he take him another wife, etc.] The father takes another wife for his son, or the son takes another wife to himself after he has betrothed and married his father’s maidservant: her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish; neither deny it her in whole, nor lessen it in part, but give her her full due of each. What is meant by the two former words is easy, and admits of no difficulty, the latter is differently interpreted. Some take it to signify no other than an “habitation” f647, that as he was to provide food and raiment for her, so an house to dwell, in; but the generality of interpreters, Jewish and Christian, understand it as we do, of the conjugal duty, the…”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“her food: Sheairah, "her flesh;" he shall not only afford her a sufficient quantity of food, as before, but of the same quality. She is not to be fed, like a common slave, with a sufficiency of bread, vegetables, milk, etc., but with her customary supply of flesh, and other agreeable articles of food. Co1 7:1-6 Exodus 21:11”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification