Exodus 21
1 “Here are some [other] instructions to give to [the Israeli people]:
Now these are the ordinances 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 he shall serve: and 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.
If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife 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.
If his master give him a wife and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
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,’
But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my 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).
then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto 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 to become a slave, she should not be set free [after six years], as the male slaves are.
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.
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 please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with 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.
And if he espouse her unto 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.
If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
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].
And if he do not these three things unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.
12 You must execute anyone who strikes another person with the result that the person who is struck dies.
He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely 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].
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver [him] into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall 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.
And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
15 Anyone who strikes his father or mother must surely be executed.
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely 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.
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17 Anyone who reviles/curses his father or his mother must be executed.
And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to 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],
And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep 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, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
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.
And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall surely be punished.
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.
Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he 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.
And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
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 any harm follow, then thou shalt give 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.
And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, and destroy it; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
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.
And if he smite out his man-servant’s tooth, or his maid-servant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
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.
And if an ox gore a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its 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 gore in time past, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its 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.
If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of 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.
Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
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 the ox gore a man-servant or a maid-servant, there shall be given unto their master thirty shekels of silver, 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].
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,
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 make it good; he shall give money unto the owner thereof, and the dead [beast] shall be his.
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.
And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, so that it dieth, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide.
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].”
Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead [beast] shall be his own.
