Exodus 21

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

Now these are the laws which you are to put 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 you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment.

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 comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away with him.

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 his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself.

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

But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be 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 is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant 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 a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.

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 is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to 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 gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter.

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

And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less.

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

And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment.

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

He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be 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 if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.

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 a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.

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

Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be 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.

Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death, if you take him in the act.

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

Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.

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;

If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making him keep in 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 he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he 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 a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment.

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, at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property.

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.

If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.

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

But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment 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, blow for blow.

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 a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his 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.

Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his 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 an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.

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 ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death.

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

If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed.

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 the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this 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 the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to 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,

If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;

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 hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

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 one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.

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 it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.