Exodus 21
1 “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
“These are the judgments which you shall place before them:
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve you; in the seventh, he shall depart freely, without charge.
3 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.
With whatever clothing he arrived, with the like let him depart. If he has a wife, his wife also shall depart, at the same time.
4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
But if his lord gave him a wife, and she has borne sons and daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her lord. Yet still, he himself will go out with his clothing.
5 But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’
And if the servant will say, ‘I love my lord, and my wife and children, I will not depart freely,’
6 then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.
then his lord shall make an offering for him to the heavens, and it shall be applied to the door and the posts, and he will pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall be his servant in perpetuity.
7 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
If anyone sells his daughter to be a servant, she shall not depart as a female servant is accustomed to go out.
8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.
If she displeases the eyes of her lord, to whom she had been delivered, he shall dismiss her. But he shall have no authority to sell her to a foreign people, even if he despises her.
9 And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter.
But if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall treat her according to the custom with daughters.
10 If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
And if he takes another for him, he shall provide to the maiden a marriage, and clothing, and he shall not refuse the price of her chastity.
11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
If he does not do these three things, she shall depart freely, without money.
12 Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
Whoever strikes a man, intending to murder, shall be put to death.
13 If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands, then I will appoint for you a place to which he must flee.
14 But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
If someone murders his neighbor with deliberation, by lying in wait, you shall tear him away from my altar, so that he may die.
15 Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
Whoever strikes his father or mother shall die a death.
16 Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.
Whoever will have stolen a man and sold him, having been convicted of the crime, shall be put to death.
17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother shall die a death.
18 If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
If men will have quarreled, and one of them has struck his neighbor with a stone or a fist, and he does not die, but lies in bed,
19 then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed.
if he gets up again and can walk outside on his staff, he who struck him will be innocent, but only if he makes sufficient restitution for his deeds and for the cost of the physicians.
20 If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
Whoever strikes his male or female servant with a staff, and if they have died by his hands, he shall be guilty of a crime.
21 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.
But if he survives for one day or two, he shall not be subject to punishment, because it is his money.
22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
If men will have quarreled, and one of them has struck a pregnant woman, and as a result she miscarries, but she herself survives, he shall be subject to as much damage as the husband of the woman shall petition from him, or as arbitrators shall judge.
23 But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life—
But if her death will have followed, he will repay a life for a life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
a scrape for a scrape, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
26 If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.
If anyone will have struck the eye of his male or female servant, having left them with one eye, he shall release them freely, because of the eye that he has put out.
27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
Likewise, if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female servant, he shall similarly release them freely.
28 If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.
If an ox has struck a man or a woman with his horn, and if they die, it shall be stoned. And its flesh shall not be eaten; also, the owner of the ox will be innocent.
29 But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.
But if the ox had been pushing with his horn, from yesterday and the day before, and they warned his owner, but he did not confine it, and it will have killed a man or a woman, then the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be killed.
30 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
But if they have imposed a price on him, he shall give, in exchange for his life, whatever is asked.
31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
Likewise, if it has struck a son or a daughter with its horns, it shall be subject to a similar verdict.
32 If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.
If it attacks a male or female servant, he shall give thirty shekels of silver to their lord, yet truly the ox shall be stoned.
33 If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
If a man digs or opens a cistern, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
then the owner of the cistern shall repay the price of the beasts, and what is dead will belong to him.
35 If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal.
If the ox of a stranger wounds the ox of another, and it has died, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price, but the carcass of the dead one they shall distribute between them.
36 But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.
But if he knew that his ox had pushed with its horns, yesterday and the day before, and its owner did not confine it, then he shall repay an ox for an ox, and he will receive the whole carcass.”
