Exodus 21:1–23

“These are the laws^x you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants

21:2–6pp—Dt 15:12–18 21:2–11Ref—Lev 25:39–55

²“If you buy a Hebrew servant,^y he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free,^z without paying anything. ³If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’^{a 6}then his master must take him before the judges.^ab He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce^c his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.^d

⁷“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,^b he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.^{e 11}If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries

¹²“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.^{f 13}However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place^g I will designate. ¹⁴But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately,^h that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.ⁱ

¹⁵“Anyone who attacks^c their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death,^j whether the victim has been sold^k or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷“Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.^l

¹⁸“If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist^d and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ²¹but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.^m

²²“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely^e but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demandsⁿ and the court allows. ²³But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,^o