Exodus 21

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

Now these are the laws which you are to put before them.

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

If you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment.

3 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;

If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away with him.

4 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.

If his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself.

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

But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:

6 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.

Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.

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

And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.

8 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.

If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her.

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

And if he gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter.

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

And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less.

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

And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment.

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

He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death.

13 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.

But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.

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

But if a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.

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

Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.

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

Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death, if you take him in the act.

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

Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.

18 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;

If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making him keep in bed;

19 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.

If he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well.

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

If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment.

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

But, at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property.

22 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;

If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.

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

But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment 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, blow for blow.

26 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;

If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye.

27 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.

Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his tooth.

28 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;

If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.

29 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.

But if the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death.

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

If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed.

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

If the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this rule.

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

If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.

33 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—

If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;

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

The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

35 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;

And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.

36 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.

But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.