EXODUS 21

1. And these are the judgements which you shall set before them.

2. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

3. If he comes in his body, he shall go out in his body;^a if he is master of a woman,^b his woman shall go out with him.

4. If his master has given him a woman and she has borne him sops or daughters, the woman and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out in his body^c.

   And if the slave says plainly, I love my master, my woman, and my children, I will not go out free;

6. His master shall bring him to God, and shall 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 when a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do^d.

8. If she is bad^e in the eyes of her master, so that he does not betroth her, let her be redeemed. He shall have no power to sell her to a foreign people^f - he would be acting treacherously towards her

9. And if he betroths her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the judgement of daughters^g.

10. If he takes another one for himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.

11. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, for no silver.

12. Anyone striking a man - and he dies - shall surely die

13. And one who did not lie in wait, and God caused it to happen at his hand - I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

14. And when a man acts from set purpose against his companion, to kill him with guile, you shall take him from My altar to die.

15. And anyone striking his father and his mother shall surely die.

16. And anyone stealing a man and selling him - and he is found in his hand - shall surely die.

17. And anyone cursing his father and his mother shall surely die.

18. And when men quarrel, and a man strikes his companion with a stone or a fist, and he does not die, and lies down in bed,^h

19. If he rises up and walks outside on his staff, the striker shall be innocent; but he shall pay for his cessation [from work]ⁱ and thoroughly cure him.^j

20. And when a man strikes his male slave or his female slave with a rod, and [the slave] dies under his hand, he shall certainly be avenged.

21. However, if [the slave] stands for a day or two,^k he shall not be avenged, since he is his silver.

22. And when men brawl and inflict a blow on a pregnant woman, and her offspring come out, and no harm is done, [the one inflicting the blow] shall surely be fined, as the master of the woman^l imposes on him; and he shall pay in accordance with the judges.^m

23. And if harm is done, you shall pay soul for soul,

24. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25. Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow.

26. And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave, or the eye of his female slave, and destroys it, he shall send him away free for his eye.

27. And if he strikes out the tooth of his male slave or the tooth of his female slave, he shall send him away free for his tooth.

    And when an ox strikes a man or a woman with its horn, and [the person] dies, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten;

    and the ownerⁿ of the ox shall be guiltless.

29. And if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past,^o and this has been testified to its owner.ⁿ and he does not keep it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and also its ownerⁿ shall die.

30. If expiation has been imposed on him,^p he shall pay for the redemption of his soul according to all that has been imposed on him.

31. Whether it strikes a son with its horn or strikes a daughter with its horn, according to this judgement it shall be done to him.

32. If the ox strikes a male slave with its horn, or a female slave, [the owner] shall give their master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned.

33. And when a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or an ass falls into it,

34. The ownerⁿ of the pit shall make repayment; he shall give silver to its owner,ⁿ and the dead [animal] shall be his.

35. And when a man's ox inflicts a blow on his companion's ox, and it dies, they shall sell the living ox, and divide the silver from it; and they shall also divide the dead one.

36. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past,^q and its owner^r does not keep it in, he shall surely repay ox for ox; and the dead one shall be his.^s

37. When a man steals an ox or a member of the flock, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for the ox, and four of the flock for the member of the flock.

Notes