Chapter 21

Ordinances for the People

1 “Now these are the aordinances 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 1alone; 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,’

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

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

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 3unfairness to her.

9 “If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.

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

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

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 craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die.

15 “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 2possession, shall surely be put to death.

17 “aHe who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

18 “If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but 1remains in bed,

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

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

21 “If, however, he 1survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; afor he is his 2property.

22 “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that 1she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband 2may demand of him, and he shall apay 3as the judges decide.

23 “But if there is any further injury, athen you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,

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

25 burn for burn, wound for wound, 1bruise for bruise.

26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys 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 “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 kills a man or a woman, 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 1demanded of him.

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

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

33 “If a man opens a pit, or 1digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

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

35 “If one man’s ox hurts 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.