Exodus 21

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

And these [are] the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

2 '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.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee, and in the seventh year he shall go forth free for nothing.

3 If he came by himself, he must go free by himself; if he is married, then his wife must go free with him.

If he should have come in alone, he shall also go forth alone; and if his wife should have gone in together with him, his wife also shall go out.

4 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.

Moreover, if his master give him a wife, and she have [born] him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be his master's; and he shall go forth alone.

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

And if the servant should answer and say, I love my master and wife and children, I will not go away free;

6 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.

his master shall bring him to the judgment-seat of God, and then shall he bring him to the door, —to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

7 If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she must not go free as the male servants do.

And if any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maid-servants depart.

8 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.

If she be not pleasing to her master, after she has betrothed herself to him, he shall let her go free; but he is not at liberty to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has trifled with her.

9 If her master designates her as a wife for his son, he must treat her the same as if she were his daughter.

And if he should have betrothed her to his son, he shall do to her according to the right of daughters.

10 If he takes another wife for himself, he must not diminish her food, clothing, or her marital rights.

And if he take another to himself, he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship [with him].

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

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

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

And if any man smite another and he die, let him be certainly put to death.

13 If the man did not do it with premeditation, but instead by accident, then I will fix a place to where he can flee.

But as for him that did it not willingly, but God delivered him into his hands, I will give thee a place whither the slayer may flee.

14 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.

And if any one lie in wait for his neighbour to slay him by craft, and he go for refuge, thou shalt take him from my altar to put him to death.

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

Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.

16 Whoever kidnaps a person—whether the kidnapper sells him, or that person is found in his hand—that kidnapper must be put to death.

He that reviles his father or his mother shall surely die.

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

Whosoever shall steal one of the children of Israel, and prevail over him and sell him, and he be found with him, let him certainly die.

18 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;

And if two men revile each other and smite the one the other with a stone or his fist, and he die not, but be laid upon his bed;

19 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.

if the man arise and walk abroad on his staff, he that smote him shall be clear; only he shall pay for his loss of time, and for his healing.

20 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.

And if a man smite his man-servant or his maid-servant, with a rod, and [the party] die under his hands, he shall be surely punished.

21 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.

But if [the servant] continue to live a day or two, let not [the master] be punished; for he is his money.

22 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.

And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman's husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation.

23 But if there is serious injury, then you must give a life for a life,

But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life,

24 an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,

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

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

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

26 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.

And if one smite the eye of his man-servant, or the eye of his maid-servant, and put it out, he shall let them go free for their eye's sake.

27 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.

And if he should smite out the tooth of his man-servant, or the tooth of his maid-servant, he shall send them away free for their tooth's sake.

28 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.

And if a bull gore a man or woman and they die, the bull shall be stoned with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall be clear.

29 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.

But if the bull should have been given to goring in former time, and men should have told his owner, and he have not removed him, but he should have slain a man or woman, the bull shall be stoned, and his owner shall die also.

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

And if a ransom should be imposed on him, he shall pay for the ransom of his soul as much as they shall lay upon him.

31 If the ox has gored a man's son or daughter, the ox's owner must do what this decree requires him to do.

And if [the bull] gore a son or daughter, let them do to him according to this ordinance.

32 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.

And if the bull gore a man-servant or maid-servant, he shall pay to their master thirty silver didrachms, and the bull shall be stoned.

33 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,

And if any one open a pit or dig a cavity in stone, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall in there,

34 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.

the owner of the pit shall make compensation; he shall give money to their owner, and the dead shall be his own.

35 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.

And if any man's bull gore the bull of his neighbour, and it die, they shall sell the living bull and divide the money, and they shall divide the dead bull.

36 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.

But if the bull be known to have been given to goring in time past, and they have testified to his owner, and he have not removed him, he shall repay bull for bull, but the dead shall be his own.