Exodus 20:22–23:33

²²Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that ^aI have spoken ¹to you from heaven.

²³‘^aYou shall not make other gods besides Me; ^bgods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.

²⁴‘You shall make ^aan altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your ^bburnt offerings and your ^cpeace offerings, ^dyour sheep and your oxen; in every place ^ewhere I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵‘And if you make an altar of stone for Me, ^ayou shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.

²⁶‘And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that ^ayour nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

CHAPTER 21

Judgments About Slaves

¹“Now these are the ^ajudgments which you are to set before them:

²“If you buy ^aa Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.

³“If he comes ¹alone, he shall go out ²alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴“If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out ¹alone.

⁵“But ^aif the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’

⁶then his master shall bring him to ¹God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. Then his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.

⁷“^aAnd if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to ¹go free ^bas the male slaves ²do.

⁸“If she is ¹displeasing in the eyes of her master ²who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his treachery to her.

⁹“And if he designates her for his son, he shall do to her according to the custom of daughters.

¹⁰“If he takes for himself another woman, he may not reduce her ¹food, her clothing, or ^aher conjugal rights.

¹¹“And if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

Judgments About Personal Injuries

¹²“^aHe who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

¹³“^aBut ¹if he did not lie in wait for him, but ^bGod let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.

¹⁴“^aIf, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him by deceit, you shall take him even from My altar, that he may die.

¹⁵“And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶“^aHe who ¹kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷“^aAnd he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸“And if men contend with each other and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but ¹remains in bed,

¹⁹if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for ¹his loss of time, and ²he shall take care of him until he is completely healed.

²⁰“And if a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies ¹at his hand, he shall surely ²be punished.

²¹“But if for a day or two he is able to stand, no punishment shall be taken; ^afor he is his ¹property.

²²“And if men struggle with each other and ¹strike a woman with child so that ²she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband ³will set for him, and he shall ^apay ⁴as the judges decide.

²³“But if there is any further injury, ^athen you shall pay life for life,

^24aeye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

²⁶“And if a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and ruins it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.

²⁷“And if he ¹knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.

²⁸“And if an ox gores a man or a woman ¹to death, ^athe ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.

²⁹“If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it puts a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰“If a ransom is ¹demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is ²demanded of him.

³¹“Whether it gores a son or ¹a daughter, it shall be done to him according to ²the same judgment.

³²“If the ox gores a male or female slave, ¹the owner shall give his or her master ^2athirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall ¹give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

³⁵“And if one man’s ox ¹hurts another’s so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox.

³⁶“Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

CHAPTER 22

Judgments About Property Rights

¹“¹If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and ^afour sheep for the sheep.

²“¹If the ^athief is ²caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.

³“But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be ^asold for his theft.

⁴“If what he stole is actually found alive in his hand, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, ^ahe shall pay double.

⁵“If a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

⁶“If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.

⁷“^aIf a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is ¹caught, he shall pay double.

⁸“If the thief is not ¹caught, then the owner of the house shall ²appear before ^3athe judges to determine whether he ⁴laid his hands on his neighbor’s property.

⁹“For every ¹breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the ²case of both parties shall come before ^3athe judges; he whom ⁴the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰“If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep for him, and it dies or is injured or is driven away while no one is looking,

¹¹then an ^aoath before Yahweh shall be made by the two of them ¹that he has not ²laid hands on his neighbor’s property; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.

¹²“But if it is actually stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.

¹³“Now if it is all torn to pieces, let him bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what has been torn to pieces.

¹⁴“If a man ¹borrows anything from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution.

¹⁵“But if its owner is with it, he shall not make restitution; if it is hired, it came for its hire.

Various Judgments

¹⁶“^aIf a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

¹⁷“If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall ¹pay money equal to the ^adowry for virgins.

¹⁸“You shall not allow a ^asorceress to live.

¹⁹“^aWhoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

²⁰“^aAnd he who sacrifices to ¹any god, other than to Yahweh alone, shall be ²devoted to destruction.

²¹“^aYou shall not mistreat a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

²²“^aYou shall not afflict any widow or orphan.

²³“And if you indeed afflict him, and ^aif he earnestly cries out to Me, ^bI will surely hear his cry;

²⁴and My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, ^aand your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵“^aIf you lend money to My people, to the afflicted ¹among you, you are not to ²act as a creditor to him; you shall not ³charge him ^binterest.

²⁶“If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak ^aas a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun sets,

²⁷for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his ¹body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall be that ^awhen he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for ^bI am gracious.

²⁸“You shall not ^1acurse God, ^bnor curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹“^aYou shall not delay the offering from ¹the fullness of your harvest and the juice of your wine vat. ^bThe firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

³⁰“^aAnd you shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; ^bon the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹“^aYou shall be holy men to Me, therefore ^byou shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

CHAPTER 23

¹“^aYou shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a ^bmalicious witness.

²“You shall not follow ¹the masses in doing evil, nor shall you ²testify in a case so as to turn aside after ³the masses in order to ^4acause justice to be turned aside;

^3anor shall you ¹be partial to a poor man in his case.

⁴“^aIf you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him.

⁵“^aIf you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall…