Exodus 21

1 These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

“Now these are the decrees that you must set before them:

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

'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 what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him.

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 master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters: the woman and her children shall be her master’s: but he himself shall go out with his raiment.

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 shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free:

But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,”

6 His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant for ever.

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 any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont 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 displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise 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 have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of 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 take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he 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 do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.

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

12 He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death.

Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, that person must surely be put to death.

13 But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee 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 a man kill his neighbour on set purpose and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar, 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 He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.

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

16 He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of guilt, 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 He that curseth his father, or mother, shall die the death.

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

18 If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his 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 rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon 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 He that striketh his bondman or bondwoman with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the 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 the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the 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 quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman’s husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award.

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 ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life.

But if there is serious injury, then you must give 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 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

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

26 If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he 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 Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.

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 gore a man or a woman, and they die, he shall be stoned: and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

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 was wont to push with his horn yesterday and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, an his owner also shall be put to death.

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 And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

If a payment is required for his life, he must pay whatever he is required to pay.

31 If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence.

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 he assault a bondman or a bond woman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and 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 open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall 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 The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own.

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 one man’s ox gore another man’s ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part 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 was wont to push yesterday and the day before, and his master did not keep him in: he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take 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.