And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
This verse is part of an ancient legal code that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel — a nation recently freed from slavery in Egypt and now forming a new community. This specific law addresses the treatment of slaves and servants, a common institution in the ancient world. If a master physically strikes a servant hard enough to knock out a tooth, the law requires one thing: that servant must be released and given their freedom. The lost tooth is the compensation; freedom is the consequence for the harm. In a world where slaves were treated as property with no legal recourse, this was a radical form of protection — your body matters, and harming it carries a price.
God, you have always cared about the small cruelties — the ones I convince myself are minor or justified. Forgive me for the ways I have used power carelessly over people in my care. Make me someone who protects dignity rather than exploiting dependence. Amen.
A knocked-out tooth. It seems like such a small thing to hinge a law on. And yet here it is: knock out your servant's tooth, and that tooth costs you everything — their labor, their presence, your authority over them. The law doesn't make the violence impossible; it can't do that. But it means the violence has weight. It means that unnamed, low-status servant's body belongs to someone more important than the master who struck them, and that God is tracking the small cruelties, not just the dramatic ones. Most of us will never own a slave, but we do sometimes treat the people in our care as resources to be used rather than human beings to be honored — the employee you push past their limit, the volunteer you take for granted, the family member whose wellbeing you quietly sacrifice for your own convenience. The logic of this law still applies: there comes a point where what you've taken from someone cannot be repaid with anything less than returning what you stole. What dignity are you withholding from someone who depends on you?
This law existed within a social structure that accepted slavery — what does it tell you about how God works within broken human systems while still pushing toward justice?
Have you ever been in a situation where someone in authority over you crossed a line and faced no real consequence? How did that affect your sense of dignity or trust?
Does the proportionality of this law — a tooth equals freedom — change how you think about what real restitution for harm should look like in contemporary life?
How does this verse challenge the way you treat or think about people who work for or serve you in any capacity — employees, service workers, volunteers, or anyone whose livelihood depends on you?
Is there someone in your life from whom you've taken more than you should have — emotionally, professionally, or relationally — and what might making it right actually require of you?
And if he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or female servant, he must let the servant go free because of [the loss of] the tooth.
AMP
If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.
ESV
'And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.
NASB
And if he knocks out the tooth of a manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the tooth.
NIV
And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth.
NKJV
And if a man knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.
NLT
If the owner knocks out the tooth of the male or female slave, the slave must be released and go free because of the tooth.
MSG