Exodus 21
1 Hæc sunt iudicia quæ propones eis.
“Now these are the decrees that you must set before them:
2 Si emeris servum Hebræum, sex annis serviet tibi: in septimo egredietur liber gratis.
'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.
3 Cum quali veste intraverit, cum tali exeat: si habens uxorem, et uxor egredietur simul.
If he came by himself, he must go free by himself; if he is married, then his wife must go free with him.
4 Sin autem dominus dederit illi uxorem, et pepererit filios et filias: mulier et liberi eius erunt domini sui, ipse vero exibit cum vestitu suo.
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.
5 Quod si dixerit servus: Diligo dominum meum et uxorem ac liberos, non egrediar liber:
But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,”
6 offeret eum dominus diis, et applicabitur ad ostium et postes, perforabitque aurem eius subula: et erit ei servus in sæculum.
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.
7 Si quis vendiderit filiam suam in famulam, non egredietur sicut ancillæ exire consueverunt.
If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she must not go free as the male servants do.
8 Si displicuerit oculis domini sui cui tradita fuerat, dimittet eam: populo autem alieno vendendi non habebit potestatem, si spreverit eam.
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.
9 Sin autem filio suo desponderit eam, iuxta morem filiarum faciet illi.
If her master designates her as a wife for his son, he must treat her the same as if she were his daughter.
10 Quod si alteram ei acceperit, providebit puellæ nuptias, et vestimenta, et pretium pudicitiæ non negabit.
If he takes another wife for himself, he must not diminish her food, clothing, or her marital rights.
11 Si tria ista non fecerit, egredietur gratis absque pecunia.
But if he does not provide these three things for her, then she can go free without paying any money.
12 Qui percusserit hominem volens occidere, morte moriatur.
Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, that person must surely be put to death.
13 Qui autem non est insidiatus, sed Deus illum tradidit in manus eius: constituam tibi locum in quem fugere debeat.
If the man did not do it with premeditation, but instead by accident, then I will fix a place to where he can flee.
14 Si quis per industriam occiderit proximum suum, et per insidias: ab altari meo evelles eum, ut moriatur.
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.
15 Qui percusserit patrem suum aut matrem, morte moriatur.
Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be put to death.
16 Qui furatus fuerit hominem, et vendiderit eum, convictus noxæ, morte moriatur.
Whoever kidnaps a person—whether the kidnapper sells him, or that person is found in his hand—that kidnapper must be put to death.
17 Qui maledixerit patri suo, vel matri, morte moriatur.
Whoever curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death.
18 Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit alter proximum suum lapide vel pugno, et ille mortuus non fuerit, sed iacuerit in lectulo:
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;
19 si surrexerit, et ambulaverit foris super baculum suum, innocens erit qui percusserit, ita tamen ut operas eius, et impensas in medicos restituat.
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.
20 Qui percusserit servum suum, vel ancillam virga, et mortui fuerint in manibus eius, criminis reus erit.
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.
21 Sin autem uno die vel duobus supervixerit, non subiacebit pœnæ, quia pecunia illius est.
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.
22 Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit quis mulierem prægnantem, et abortivum quidem fecerit, sed ipsa vixerit: subiacebit damno quantum maritus mulieris expetierit, et arbitri iudicaverint.
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.
23 Sin autem mors eius fuerit subsecuta, reddet animam pro anima,
But if there is serious injury, then you must give a life for a life,
24 oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, manum pro manu, pedem pro pede,
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,
25 adustionem pro adustione, vulnus pro vulnere, livorem pro livore.
a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, or a bruise for a bruise.
26 Si percusserit quispiam oculum servi sui aut ancillæ, et luscos eos fecerit, dimittet eos liberos pro oculo quem eruit.
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.
27 Dentem quoque si excusserit servo vel ancillæ suæ, similiter dimittet eos liberos.
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.
28 Si bos cornu percusserit virum aut mulierem, et mortui fuerint, lapidibus obruetur: et non comedentur carnes eius, dominus quoque bovis innocens erit.
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.
29 Quod si bos cornupeta fuerit ab heri et nudiustertius, et contestati sunt dominum eius, nec recluserit eum, occideritque virum aut mulierem: et bos lapidibus obruetur, et dominum eius occident.
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.
30 Quod si pretium fuerit ei impositum, dabit pro anima sua quidquid fuerit postulatus.
If a payment is required for his life, he must pay whatever he is required to pay.
31 Filium quoque et filiam si cornu percusserit, simili sententiæ subiacebit.
If the ox has gored a man's son or daughter, the ox's owner must do what this decree requires him to do.
32 Si servum, ancillamque invaserit, triginta siclos argenti domino dabit, bos vero lapidibus opprimetur.
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.
33 Si quis aperuerit cisternam, et foderit, et non operuerit eam, cecideritque bos aut asinus in eam,
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,
34 reddet dominus cisternæ pretium iumentorum: quod autem mortuum est, ipsius erit.
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.
35 Si bos alienus bovem alterius vulneraverit, et ille mortuus fuerit: vendent bovem vivum, et divident pretium, cadaver autem mortui inter se dispertient.
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.
36 Sin autem sciebat quod bos cornupeta esset ab heri et nudiustertius, et non custodivit eum dominus suus: reddet bovem pro bove, et cadaver integrum accipiet.
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.
