Exodus 21–22

Chapter 21

¹And these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ²If thou buy a Hebrew bondman, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³If he came in alone, he shall go out alone: if he had a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. ⁵But if the bondman shall say distinctly, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free; ⁶then his master shall bring him before the judges, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman for ever. ⁷And if a man shall sell his daughter as a handmaid, she shall not go out as the bondmen go out. ⁸If she is unacceptable in the eyes of her master, who had taken her for himself, then shall he let her be ransomed: to sell her unto a foreign people he hath no power, after having dealt unfaithfully with her. ⁹And if he have appointed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the law of daughters. ¹⁰If he take himself another, her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights he shall not diminish. ¹¹And if he do not these three things unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

¹²He that striketh a man, so that he die, shall certainly be put to death. ¹³But if he have not lain in wait, and God have delivered him into his hand, I will appoint thee a place to which he shall flee. ¹⁴But if a man act wantonly toward his neighbour, and slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. ¹⁵And he that striketh his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death. ¹⁶And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall certainly be put to death. ¹⁷And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall certainly be put to death. ¹⁸And if men dispute, and one strike the other with a stone, or with the fist, and he die not, but take to his bed, ¹⁹—if he rise, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that struck him be guiltless; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. ²⁰And if a man strike his bondman or his handmaid with a staff, and he die under his hand, he shall certainly be avenged. ²¹Only, if he continue to live a day or two days, he shall not be avenged; for he is his money.

²²And if men strive together, and strike a woman with child, so that she be delivered, and no mischief happen, he shall in any case be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and shall give it as the judges estimate. ²³But if mischief happen, then thou shalt give life for life, ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ²⁶And if a man strike the eye of his bondman or the eye of his handmaid, and it be marred, he shall let him go for his eye. ²⁷And if he knock out his bondman’s tooth or his handmaid’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth. ²⁸And if an ox gore a man or a woman, so that they die, then the ox shall certainly be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be guiltless. ²⁹But if the ox have gored heretofore, and it have been testified to its owner, and he have not kept it in, and it kill a man or a woman, —the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. ³⁰If there be imposed on him a satisfaction, then he shall give the ransom of his life, according to what is imposed on him. ³¹Whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done to him. ³²If the ox gore a bondman or a handmaid, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. ³³—And if a man open a pit, or if a man dig a pit, and do not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall into it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make it good, shall give money to the owner of them; and the dead ox shall be his. ³⁵—And if one man’s ox gore his neighbour’s ox, and it die, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money thereof, and divide the dead also. ³⁶Or if it be known that the ox have gored heretofore, and its owner have not kept him in, he shall in any case restore ox for ox; and the dead shall be his.

Chapter 22

¹If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep. ²If the thief be encountered breaking in, and be smitten so that he die, there shall be no blood-guiltiness for him. ³If the sun be risen on him, there shall be blood-guiltiness for him; he should have made full restitution: if he had nothing, he would have been sold for his theft. ⁴If the stolen thing be actually found alive in his hand, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double. ⁵If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and put in his cattle, and pasture in another man’s field, of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard shall he make it good. ⁶—If fire break out, and seize the thorns, and the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed, he that kindled the fire shall fully make it good.

⁷—If a man deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him restore double; ⁸if the thief be not found, the master of the house shall be brought before the judges, to see if he has not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods. ⁹As to all manner of fraud, —as to ox, as to ass, as to sheep, as to clothing, as to everything lost, of which a man saith, It is this—the cause of both parties shall come before the judges: he whom the judges shall condemn shall restore double to his neighbour. ¹⁰If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any cattle, to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, and no man see it, ¹¹an oath of Jehovah shall be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept it, and he shall not make it good. ¹²But if it have been stolen from him, he shall make it good unto its owner. ¹³If it have been torn in pieces, let him bring it as witness: he shall not make good what was torn. ¹⁴—And if a man borrow anything of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, its owner not being with it, he shall fully make it good; ¹⁵if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be a hired thing, it came for its hire.

¹⁶And if a man seduce a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall certainly endow her, to be his wife. ¹⁷If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall weigh money according to the dowry of virgins. ¹⁸—Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. ¹⁹—Every one that lieth with a beast shall certainly be put to death. ²⁰—He that sacrificeth to any god, save to Jehovah only, shall be devoted to destruction. ²¹Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt. ²²Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. ²³If thou afflict him in any way, if he cry at all unto me, I will certainly hear his cry; ²⁴and my anger shall burn, and I will slay you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

²⁵—If thou lend money to my people, the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer: ye shall charge him no interest. ²⁶—If thou at all take thy neighbour’s garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down; ²⁷for that is his only covering, his garment for his skin: on what shall he lie down? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. ²⁸Thou shalt not revile the judges, nor curse a prince amongst thy people. ²⁹—Thou shalt not delay the fulness of thy threshing-floor and the outflow of thy winepress. The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. ³⁰Likewise shalt thou do with thy calf, with thy sheep: seven days shall it be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me. ³¹—And ye shall be holy men unto me; and ye shall not eat flesh torn in the field: ye shall cast it to the dog.