Exodus 21

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

“Here are some [other] instructions to give to [the Israeli people]:

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.

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].

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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,’

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.

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).

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

If a man sells his daughter to become a slave, she should not be set free [after six years], as the male slaves are.

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 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].

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

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.

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

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.

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

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].

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

You must execute anyone who strikes another person with the result that the person who is struck dies.

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 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].

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.

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.

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

Anyone who strikes his father or mother must surely be executed.

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.

Anyone who kidnaps another person, either in order to sell that person or to keep him as a slave, must be executed.

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

Anyone who reviles/curses his father or his mother must be executed.

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;

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],

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

Suppose someone has a pit/cistern and does not keep it covered, and someone’s bull or donkey falls into it [and dies].

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.

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].

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.

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.

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.

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].”