Exodus
Chapter 21
1 Here are the rules that you should give to them.
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he must work for six years; but in the seventh year, he will be set free without paying anything.
3 If he entered alone, he will leave alone; if he was married, his wife will leave with him.
4 If his master gave him a wife, and she had sons or daughters; the wife and her children belong to her master, and he will leave alone.
5 If the servant clearly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I don’t want to be set free”:
6 The owner must take him to the authorities; he will take him to the door or doorpost. There, the owner must pierce his ear with a tool, and he will work for his owner always.
7 If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she should not leave like the male servants.
8 If her master is not happy with her and does not make her his wife, he must allow her to be bought back. He cannot sell her to foreigners because he was not honest with her.
9 If he has promised her to his son, he should treat her like his own daughter.
10 If he marries another woman, he must not reduce the first one’s food, clothes, or marital rights.
11 If he does not do these three things for her, then she can go free without paying anything.
12 Whoever hits a person and kills them must be put to death.
13 If a man doesn’t plan to harm someone, but it happens by accident, I will choose a safe place for him to go.
14 If someone deliberately attacks and kills another person, take them away from my altar so they can be put to death.
15 Anyone who hits their father or mother must be put to death.
16 Whoever steals a person and sells them, or is caught with them, must be put to death.
17 Whoever curses their father or mother must be put to death.
18 If men fight and one hits the other with a stone or his fist and the injured man doesn’t die but has to stay in bed:
19 If he gets up and walks around with a cane, then the one who hit him is not guilty. But he must pay for the injured person’s lost time and make sure he is completely healed.
20 If someone hits their servant, male or female, with a rod and the servant dies, the owner must be punished.
21 However, if the slave survives a day or two, no punishment will happen, because the slave is his owner’s property.
22 If men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious harm, the man must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.
23 If harm follows, then you must give a life for a life.
24 Give an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.
25 Burn for burn, cut for cut, bruise for bruise.
26 If someone hurts their servant’s eye and it is destroyed, they must set the servant free to make up for the lost eye.
27 If he knocks out his male or female servant’s tooth, he must let them go free because of the tooth.
28 If an ox hurts a man or a woman so they die, the ox must be stoned to death, and no one can eat its meat; but the owner of the ox is not to blame.
29 If the ox had a habit of attacking with its horn before, and its owner was warned but did not keep it secure, and the ox killed a man or woman, the ox must be stoned and the owner must be put to death.
30 If he must pay money, he must pay to save his life whatever amount is required.
31 If the ox hurts a boy or a girl, the same rule will apply to the owner.
32 If an ox injures a male or female servant, the owner must pay the servant’s master thirty silver coins, and the ox must be killed with stones.
33 If someone digs a hole and doesn’t cover it and a cow or donkey falls into it,
34 The person who owns the pit must pay for the damages and compensate the owner of the animals; the dead animal will then belong to the person who owned the pit.
35 If one person’s ox injures another’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live ox and split the money, and they must also split the dead ox.
36 If it’s known that the ox often pushed before, and its owner didn’t keep it secured, he must pay an ox for the ox; the dead ox will belong to him.