Exodus 21

1 And these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

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

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

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

3 If he came in alone, he shall go out alone: if he had a wife, then his wife shall go out 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 have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone.

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 bondman shall say distinctly, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not 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 shall bring him before the judges, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman for ever.

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 shall sell his daughter as a handmaid, she shall not go out as the bondmen go out.

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 unacceptable in the eyes of her master, who had taken her for himself, then shall he let her be ransomed: to sell her unto a foreign people he hath no power, after having dealt unfaithfully 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 have appointed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the law of daughters.

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

10 If he take himself another, her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights he shall not diminish.

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

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

12 He that striketh a man, so that he die, shall certainly be put to death.

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

13 But if he have not lain in wait, and God have delivered [him] into his hand, I will appoint thee a place to which he shall 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 act wantonly toward his neighbour, and slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

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 And he that striketh his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death.

Whoever strikes his father or mother shall die a death.

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

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

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

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

18 And if men dispute, and one strike the other with a stone, or with the fist, and he die not, but take to [his] 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 — if he rise, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that struck [him] be guiltless; only he shall pay [for] the loss of his time, and shall cause [him] to be thoroughly 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 And if a man strike his bondman or his handmaid with a staff, and he die under his hand, he shall certainly be avenged.

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 Only, if he continue [to live] a day or two days, he shall not be avenged; for he is his money.

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

22 And if men strive together, and strike a woman with child, so that she be delivered, and no mischief happen, he shall in any case be fined, according as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and shall give it as the judges estimate.

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 mischief happen, then thou shalt give life for 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 branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

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

26 And if a man strike the eye of his bondman or the eye of his handmaid, and it be marred, he shall let him go for his 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 knock out his bondman's tooth or his handmaid's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth.

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

28 And if an ox gore a man or a woman, so that they die, then the ox shall certainly be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be guiltless.

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 have gored heretofore, and it have been testified to its owner, and he have not kept it in, and it kill a man or a woman, — the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall 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 there be imposed on him a satisfaction, then he shall give the ransom of his life, according to what is imposed on him.

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

31 Whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done to him.

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 gore a bondman or a handmaid, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall 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 — And if a man open a pit, or if a man dig a pit, and do not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall 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 it good, shall give money to the owner of them; and the dead [ox] shall be his.

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

35 — And if one man's ox gore his neighbour's ox, and it die, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money thereof, and divide the dead also.

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 Or if it be known that the ox have gored heretofore, and its owner have not kept him in, he shall in any case restore ox for ox; and the dead shall 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.”