Exodus 21:16
New International Version
“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

New Living Translation
“Kidnappers must be put to death, whether they are caught in possession of their victims or have already sold them as slaves.

English Standard Version
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Berean Standard Bible
Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.

King James Bible
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

New King James Version
“He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

New American Standard Bible
“Now one who kidnaps someone, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall certainly be put to death.

NASB 1995
“He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.

NASB 1977
“And he who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.

Legacy Standard Bible
“He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

Amplified Bible
“Whoever kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or is found with him in his possession, must be put to death.

Christian Standard Bible
“Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.”

American Standard Version
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He who will steal a person and will sell him and be found with him surely shall be killed.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Whosoever shall steal one of the children of Israel, and prevail over him and sell him, and he be found with him, let him certainly die.

Contemporary English Version
Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of guilt, shall be put to death.

English Revised Version
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Whoever kidnaps another person must be put to death, whether he has sold the kidnapped person or still has him.

Good News Translation
"Whoever kidnaps someone, either to sell him or to keep him as a slave, is to be put to death.

International Standard Version
"Whoever kidnaps a person, whether he has sold him or whether the victim is still in his possession, is certainly to be put to death.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Literal Standard Version
And he who steals a man, and has sold him, and he has been found in his hand, is certainly put to death.

Majority Standard Bible
Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.

New American Bible
A kidnapper, whether he sells the person or the person is found in his possession, shall be put to death.

NET Bible
"Whoever kidnaps someone and sells him, or is caught still holding him, must surely be put to death.

New Revised Standard Version
Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.

New Heart English Bible
"Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his possession, he shall surely be put to death.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he shall be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

World English Bible
“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Young's Literal Translation
'And he who stealeth a man, and hath sold him, and he hath been found in his hand, is certainly put to death.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Personal Injury Laws
15Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death. 16Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession. 17Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.…

Cross References
1 Timothy 1:10
for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching

Exodus 20:15
You shall not steal.

Exodus 21:15
Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 24:7
If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.


Treasury of Scripture

And he that steals a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

stealeth

Genesis 40:15
For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Deuteronomy 24:7
If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.

1 Timothy 1:10
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

selleth him

Genesis 37:28
Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

found in

Exodus 22:4
If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

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Caught Death Either Found Gets Hand Order Possession Power Price Selleth Sells Sold Someone Stealeth Steals Surely Whether
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Caught Death Either Found Gets Hand Order Possession Power Price Selleth Sells Sold Someone Stealeth Steals Surely Whether
Exodus 21
1. Laws for men servants
5. For the servant whose ear is bored
7. For women servants
12. For manslaughter
16. For kidnappers
17. For cursers of parents
18. For smiters
22. For a hurt by chance
28. For an ox that gores
33. For him who is an occasion of harm














Verse 16. - He that stealeth a man. Kidnapping, or stealing men to make them slaves, was a very early and very wide-spread crime. Joseph' s brothers must be regarded as having committed it (Genesis 37:28); and there are many traces of it in the remains of antiquity. (See Herod. 4:183; Strab. 7. p. 467; Sueton. Octav. § 32; etc.) Most kidnapping was of foreigners; and this was a practice of which the laws of states took no cognizance, though a certain disrepute may have attached to it. But the kidnapping of a fellow-country-man was generally punished with severity. At Athens it was a capital offence. At Rome it made a man infamous. We may gather from Deuteronomy 24:7, that the Mosaic law was especially levelled against this lena of the crime, though the words of the present passage are general, and forbid the crime altogether. Man-stealing, in the general sense, is now regarded as an offence by the chief civilised states of Europe and America, and is punished by confiscation of the stolen goods, and sometimes by imprisonment of the man-stealers.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Whoever kidnaps
וְגֹנֵ֨ב (wə·ḡō·nêḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1589: To thieve, to deceive

another man
אִ֧ישׁ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

must be put to death,
מ֥וֹת (mō·wṯ)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

whether he sells him
וּמְכָר֛וֹ (ū·mə·ḵā·rōw)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 4376: To sell

or the man is found
וְנִמְצָ֥א (wə·nim·ṣā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

in his possession.
בְיָד֖וֹ (ḇə·yā·ḏōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3027: A hand


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OT Law: Exodus 21:16 Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 21:15
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