Exodus 21:1–36

The Law Concerning Servants

21“Now these are the ¹judgments which you shall ^aset before them: ^2bIf you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. ³If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ^5cBut if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ⁶then his master shall bring him to the ^djudges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

⁷“And if a man ^esells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. ⁸If she ²does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. ⁹And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. ¹⁰If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, ^fand her marriage rights. ¹¹And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

The Law Concerning Violence

^12g“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. ¹³However, ^hif he did not lie in wait, but God ⁱdelivered him into his hand, then ^jI will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

¹⁴“But if a man acts with ^kpremeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, ^lyou shall take him from My altar, that he may die.

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

^16m“He who kidnaps a man and ⁿsells him, or if he is ^ofound in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

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

¹⁸“If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, ¹⁹if he rises again and walks about outside ^qwith his staff, then he who struck him shall be ³acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰“And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his ^rproperty.

²²“If men ⁴fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that ⁵she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall ^spay as the judges determine. ²³But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, ^24teye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶“If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. ²⁷And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth.

Animal Control Laws

²⁸“If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then ^uthe ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be ⁶acquitted. ²⁹But if the ox ⁷tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. ³⁰If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay ^vto redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him. ³¹Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. ³²If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master ^wthirty shekels of silver, and the ^xox shall be stoned.

³³“And 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 in it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.

³⁵“If one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. ³⁶Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own.