Exodus 21

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

And these [are] the judgments which you set before them:

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

When you buy a Hebrew servant, he serves [for] six years, and in the seventh he goes out as a freeman for nothing;

3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

if he comes in by himself, he goes out by himself; if he [is] owner of a wife, then his wife has gone out with him;

4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

if his lord gives a wife to him, and she has borne sons or daughters to him—the wife and her children are her lord’s, and he goes out by himself.

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

And if the servant really says: I have loved my lord, my wife, and my sons—I do not go out free,

6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

then his lord has brought him near to God, and has brought him near to the door, or to the doorpost, and his lord has bored his ear with an awl, and he has served him for all time.

7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

And when a man sells his daughter for a handmaid, she does not go out according to the going out of the menservants;

8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

if [it is] evil in the eyes of her lord, so that he has not betrothed her, then he has let her be ransomed; he has no power to sell her to a strange people, in his dealing treacherously with her.

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

And if he betroths her to his son, he does to her according to the right of daughters.

10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

If he takes another [woman] for him, he does not withdraw her food, her covering, and her habitation;

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

and if he does not do these three for her, then she has gone out for nothing, without money.

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

He who strikes a man so that he has died is certainly put to death;

13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

as for him who has not laid wait, but God has brought [him] to his hand, I have even set a place for you to where he flees.

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

And when a man presumes against his neighbor to slay him with subtlety, you take him from My altar to die.

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

And he who strikes his father or his mother is certainly put to death.

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

And he who steals a man, and has sold him, and he has been found in his hand, is certainly put to death.

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

And he who is reviling his father or his mother is certainly put to death.

18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

And when men contend, and a man has struck his neighbor with a stone, or with the fist, and he does not die, but has fallen on the bed;

19 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.

if he rises, and has gone up and down outside on his staff, then the striker has been acquitted; he only gives [for] his cessation, and he is thoroughly healed.

20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

And when a man strikes his manservant or his handmaid with a rod, and he has died under his hand—he is certainly avenged;

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

only if he remains a day, or two days, he is not avenged, for he [is] his money.

22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

And when men strive, and have struck a pregnant woman, and her children have come out, and there is no harm [to them], he is certainly fined as the husband of the woman lays on him, and he has given through the judges;

23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

and if there is harm [to them], then you have given life for life,

24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

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

25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

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

26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

And when a man strikes the eye of his manservant, or the eye of his handmaid, and has destroyed it, he sends him away as a freeman for his eye;

27 And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

and if he knocks out a tooth of his manservant or a tooth of his handmaid, he sends him away as a freeman for his tooth.

28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

And when an ox gores man or woman, and they have died, the ox is certainly stoned, and his flesh is not eaten, and the owner of the ox [is] acquitted;

29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

and if the ox is [one] accustomed to gore before, and it has been testified to its owner, and he does not watch it, and it has put to death a man or woman, the ox is stoned, and its owner is also put to death.

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

If atonement is laid on him, then he has given the ransom of his life, according to all that is laid on him;

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

whether it gores a son or gores a daughter, according to this judgment it is done to him.

32 If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

If the ox gores a manservant or a handmaid, he gives thirty silver shekels to their lord, and the ox is stoned.

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

And when a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey has fallen [in] there—

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

the owner of the pit repays, he gives back money to its owner, and the dead is his.

35 And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.

And when a man’s ox strikes the ox of his neighbor and it has died, then they have sold the living ox, and halved its money, and they also halve the dead one;

36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

or, [if] it has been known that the ox is [one] accustomed to gore before, and its owner does not watch it, he certainly repays ox for ox, and the dead is his.