Exodus 21

1 “These are the judgments which you shall place before them:

Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve you; in the seventh, he shall depart freely, without charge.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

3 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.

If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 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.

If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.

5 And if the servant will say, ‘I love my lord, and my wife and children, I will not depart freely,’

But if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free;

6 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.

then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

7 If anyone sells his daughter to be a servant, she shall not depart as a female servant is accustomed to go out.

And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.

8 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.

If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

9 But if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall treat her according to the custom with daughters.

And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

10 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.

If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her conjugal rights, shall he not diminish.

11 If he does not do these three things, she shall depart freely, without money.

And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.

12 Whoever strikes a man, intending to murder, shall be put to death.

He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death.

13 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.

And if a man lie not in wait, but God cause it to come to hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he may flee.

14 If someone murders his neighbor with deliberation, by lying in wait, you shall tear him away from my altar, so that he may die.

And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die.

15 Whoever strikes his father or mother shall die a death.

And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

16 Whoever will have stolen a man and sold him, having been convicted of the crime, shall be put to death.

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

17 Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother shall die a death.

And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

18 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,

And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed;

19 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.

if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

20 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.

And if a man smite his bondman, or his bondwoman, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

21 But if he survives for one day or two, he shall not be subject to punishment, because it is his money.

Notwithstanding if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his money.

22 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.

And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

23 But if her death will have followed, he will repay a life for a life,

But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

24 an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 a scrape for a scrape, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.

burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26 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.

And if a man smite the eye of his bondman, or the eye of his bondwoman, and destroy it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.

27 Likewise, if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female servant, he shall similarly release them freely.

And if he smite out his bondman's tooth, or his bondwoman's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

28 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.

And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

29 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.

But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and warning hath been given to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

30 But if they have imposed a price on him, he shall give, in exchange for his life, whatever is asked.

If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

31 Likewise, if it has struck a son or a daughter with its horns, it shall be subject to a similar verdict.

Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

32 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.

If the ox gore a bondman or a bondwoman, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

33 If a man digs or opens a cistern, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

34 then the owner of the cistern shall repay the price of the beasts, and what is dead will belong to him.

the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his.

35 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.

And if one man's ox hurt another's, so that it dieth; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide.

36 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.”

Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.