Exodus 21

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

And these [are] the ordinances which you shall 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 you buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve you, and in the seventh year he shall go forth 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 should have come in alone, he shall also go forth alone; and if his wife should have gone in together with him, his wife also shall go out.

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.

Moreover, if his master give him a wife, and she have [born] him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be his master's; and he shall go forth alone.

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

And if the servant should answer and say, I love my master and wife and children, I will not go away 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.

his master shall bring him to the judgment-seat of God, and then shall he bring him to the door, —to 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 any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maidservants depart.

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 be not pleasing to her master, after she has betrothed herself to him, he shall let her go free; but he is not at liberty to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has trifled 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 should have betrothed her to his son, he shall do to her according to the right 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.

And if he take another to himself, he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship [with him].

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

And if he will not do these three things to her, she shall go out free without money.

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

And if any man strike another and he die, let him be certainly 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.

But as for him that did it not willingly, but God delivered him into his hands, I will give you a place whither the slayer 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 any one lie in wait for his neighbor to kill him by craft, and he go for refuge, you shall take him from my altar to put him to death.

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

Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.

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

He that reviles his father or his mother shall surely die.

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

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.

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 two men revile each other and strike the one the other with a stone or his fist, and he die not, but be laid upon 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 the man arise and walk abroad on his staff, he that struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for his loss of time, and for his healing.

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 strike his man-servant or his maidservant, with a rod, and [the party] die under his hands, he shall be surely punished.

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

But if [the servant] continue to live a day or two, let not [the master] 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 two men strive and strike a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman's husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation.

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

But if it be perfectly formed, he shall 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 one strike the eye of his man-servant, or the eye of his maidservant, and put it out, he shall let them go free for their 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 should strike out the tooth of his man-servant, or the tooth of his maidservant, he shall send them away free for their 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 a bull gore a man or woman and they die, the bull shall be stoned with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall be clear.

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 bull should have been given to goring in former time, and men should have told his owner, and he have not removed him, but he should have slain a man or woman, the bull shall be stoned, and his owner shall die also.

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

And if a ransom should be imposed on him, he shall pay for the ransom of his soul as much as they shall lay upon him.

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

And if [the bull] gore a son or daughter, let them do to him according to this ordinance.

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.

And if the bull gore a man-servant or maidservant, he shall pay to their master thirty silver didrachmas, and the bull 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 any one open a pit or dig a cavity in stone, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall in there,

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 compensation; he shall give money to their owner, and the dead shall be his own.

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 any man's bull gore the bull of his neighbor, and it die, they shall sell the living bull and divide the money, and they shall divide the dead bull.

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.”

But if the bull be known to have been given to goring in time past, and they have testified to his owner, and he have not removed him, he shall repay bull for bull, but the dead shall be his own.