Exodus 21

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

“Now these are the decrees that you must 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, he is to serve for six years, and in the seventh year he will go free without paying anything.

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 came by himself, he must go free by himself; if he is married, then his wife must go free 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 gave him a wife and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master, and he must go free 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 plainly says, “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 must bring him to God. The master must bring him to a door or doorpost, and his master must bore his ear through with an awl. Then the servant will serve him for life.

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

If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she must not go free as the male 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 does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be bought back. He has no right to sell her to a foreign people. He has no such right, since he has treated her deceitfully.

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

If her master designates her as a wife for his son, he must treat her the same as if she were his daughter.

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 takes another wife for himself, he must not diminish her food, clothing, or her marital rights.

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

But if he does not provide these three things for her, then she can go free without paying any money.

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

Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, that person must 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.

If the man did not do it with premeditation, but instead by accident, then I will fix a place to where he can 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.

If a man willfully attacks his neighbor and kills him according to a cunning plan, then you must take him, even if he is at God's altar, so that he may die.

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

Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be put to death.

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

Whoever kidnaps a person—whether the kidnapper sells him, or that person is found in his hand—that kidnapper must be put to death.

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

Whoever curses his father or his mother must 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,

If men fight and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist, and that person does not die, but is confined to 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.

then if he recovers and is able to walk about using his staff, the man who struck him must pay for the loss of his time; he must also pay for his complete recovery. But that man is not guilty of murder.

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.

If a man hits his male servant or his female servant with a staff, and if the servant dies as a result of the blow, then that man must 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.

However, if the servant lives for a day or two, the master must not be punished, for he will have suffered the loss of the servant.

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.

If men fight together and hurt a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, but there is no other injury to her, then the guilty man must surely be fined as the woman's husband demands it from him, and he must pay as the judges determine.

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

But if there is serious injury, then you must give a life for a life,

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

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

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

a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, or a bruise for a bruise.

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.

If a man hits the eye of his male servant or of his female servant and destroys it, then he must let the servant go free in compensation for his eye.

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

If he knocks out a tooth of his male servant or female servant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

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.

If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its flesh must not be eaten; but the ox's owner must be acquitted of guilt.

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 had a habit of goring in the past, and its owner was warned but did not keep it in, and the ox has killed a man or a woman, that ox must be stoned, and its owner also must 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 a payment is required for his life, he must pay whatever he is required to pay.

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

If the ox has gored a man's son or daughter, the ox's owner must do what this decree requires him to do.

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 gores a male servant or a female servant, the ox's owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must 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,

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

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 must repay the loss. He must give money to the dead animal's owner, and the dead animal will become 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.

If one man's ox hurts another man's ox so that it dies, then they must sell the live ox and divide its price, and they must also divide the dead ox.

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 it was known that the ox had a habit of goring in time past, and its owner has not kept it in, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his own.