Exodus 21
1 “Here are some [other] instructions to give to [the Israeli people]:
These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
2 When/If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for [only] six years. In the seventh year you must free him [from being your slave], and he is not required to pay you anything [for setting him free].
If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee: in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
3 If he was not married before he became your slave, and if he marries [someone while he is your slave], his wife is not to be set free [with him]. But if he was married before he became your slave, you must free both him and his wife.
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.
4 If a slave’s master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters [while her husband is a slave], only the man is to be freed. His wife and children will continue to be slaves of their master.
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.
5 But when it is time for the slave to be set free, if the slave says, ‘I love my master and my wife and my children, and I do not want to be set free,’
And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free:
6 then his master must take him to [the place where they worship] God (OR, to [the owner’s] house). There he must make the slave stand against the door or the doorpost. Then the master will use an (awl/pointed metal rod) to make a hole in the slave’s ear. Then [he will fasten a tag to the slave’s ear to indicate that] (he will own that slave for the rest of his life/he will own the slave as long as the slave lives).
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.
7 If a man sells his daughter to become a slave, she should not be set free [after six years], as the male slaves are.
If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out.
8 If the man who bought her wanted her to be his wife, but if [later] he is not pleased with her, he must sell her back to her father. He must not sell her to a foreigner, because that would be breaking the contract/agreement [he made with the girl’s father].
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.
9 If the man who buys her wants her to be a wife for his son, he must then treat her as though she were his own daughter.
But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10 If the master takes another slave girl to be another wife for himself, he must continue to give the first slave wife the same amount of food and clothing that he gave to her before, and he must continue to have sex [EUP] with her as before.
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.
11 If he does not do all these three things for her, he must free her [from being a slave], and she is not required to pay anything [for being set free].
If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.
12 You must execute anyone who strikes another person with the result that the person who is struck dies.
He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death.
13 But if the one who struck the other did not intend to kill that person, the one who struck him can escape to a place that I will choose for you, [and he will be safe there].
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.
14 But if someone gets angry with another person and kills him, even if the murderer runs to the altar, [a place that God designated as a place to be safe], you must execute him.
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.
15 Anyone who strikes his father or mother must surely be executed.
He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.
16 Anyone who kidnaps another person, either in order to sell that person or to keep him as a slave, must be executed.
He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of guilt, shall be put to death.
17 Anyone who reviles/curses his father or his mother must be executed.
He that curseth his father, or mother, shall die the death.
18 Suppose two people fight, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist. And suppose the person he strikes does not die but is injured and has to stay in bed [for a while],
If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
19 and later he is able to walk outside using a cane. Then the person who struck him does not have to be punished. However, he must pay the injured person the money he could not earn [while he was recovering], and he must also pay the injured person’s medical expenses until that person is well.
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.
20 If someone strikes his male or female slave with a stick, if the slave dies (immediately/as a result) [IDM], the one who struck him must be punished.
He that striketh his bondman or bondwoman with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime.
21 But if the slave lives for a day or two after he is struck [and then dies], you must not punish the one who struck him. Not having that slave to be able to work for him any longer is enough punishment.
But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money.
22 Suppose two people are fighting and they hurt a pregnant woman with the result that (she has a miscarriage/her baby is born prematurely and dies). If the woman is not harmed in any other way, the one who injured her must pay a fine. He must pay whatever the woman’s husband demands, after a judge approves of the fine.
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.
23 But if the woman is injured in some additional way, the one who injured her must be caused to suffer in exactly the same way [that he caused her to suffer]. If she dies, he must be executed.
But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life.
24 If her eye is injured or destroyed, or if he knocks out one of her teeth, or her hand or foot is injured, or if she is burned or bruised, the one who injured her must be injured in the same way.
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 If the owner of a slave strikes the eye of his male or female slave and ruins it, he must free that slave because of [what he did to] the slave’s eye.
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.
27 If someone knocks out one of his slave’s teeth, he must free the slave because of [what he did to] the slave’s tooth.
Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.
28 If a bull gores a man or woman with the result that the person dies, you [must kill the bull by] throwing stones at it, but you must not punish the owner of the bull.
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.
29 But suppose the bull had attacked people several times before, and its owner had been warned, but he did not keep the bull inside a fence. Then you [must kill the bull by] throwing stones at it, but you must also execute its owner.
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.
30 However, if the owner of the bull is allowed to pay a fine (to save his own life/in order not to be executed), he must pay the full amount that the judges say that he must pay.
And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
31 If someone’s bull attacks and gores another person’s son or daughter, you must treat the bull’s owner according to that same rule.
If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence.
32 If a bull attacks and gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay to the slave’s owner 30 pieces of silver. Then you must [kill the bull by] throwing stones at it.
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.
33 Suppose someone has a pit/cistern and does not keep it covered, and someone’s bull or donkey falls into it [and dies].
If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it,
34 Then the owner of the pit/cistern must pay for the animal that died. He must give the money to the animal’s owner, but then he can take away the animal that died and [do whatever he wants to with it].
The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own.
35 If someone’s bull hurts another person’s bull with the result that it dies, the owners of both bulls must sell the bull that is living, and they must divide [between them] the money [that they receive] for it. They must also divide [between them the meat of] the animal that died.
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:
36 However, if people know that the bull often attacked other animals previously, and its owner did not keep it inside a fence, then the owner of that bull must give the owner of the bull that died one of his own bulls, but he can take away the animal that died [and do with it whatever he wants to do].”
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.
