EXODUS 21

Now these are the civil laws 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 by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he is married, his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a woman and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant says plainly, I love my master, my woman, and my children; I will not go out free; 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

7 And if a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she is unpleasing in the eyes of her master, so that he does not betroth her, then he shall let her be redeemed; he has no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has acted faithlessly to her. 9 And if he betroths her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the rights of daughters. 10 If he takes another one for himself, he shall not take away her food, her clothing, and her marital rights; 11 but if he does not give her these three things, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of silver.

12 Whoever strikes a man so that he dies must be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let it happen at his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man acts deliberately against his neighbour, and kills him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar so that he may die.

15 And whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.

16 And whoever steals a man, whether he sells him or whether he holds him captive, must be put to death.

17 And whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.

18 And if men quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the man does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 then if he rises, and walks about with his staff, he who struck him shall be guiltless; yet he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall see that he is fully healed.

20 And if a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his hand, he must be avenged. 21 But if he survives for a day or two, the man shall not be punished; for he is his silver.

22 And if men quarrel and strike a woman with child so that she miscarries, but no harm follows, the one who struck her must be fined according to the claim of the woman's husband; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

26 And if a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go out free on account of his eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go out free on account of his tooth.

28 And if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be guiltless. 29 But if the ox has been known to gore in the past, and this was known by its owner but he did not keep it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30 If a ransom is put upon him, he shall give whatever is put upon him for the redemption of his life. 31 Whether it gores a son or a daughter, according to this regulation it shall be done to him. 32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox 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 an ass falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give silver to its owner; and the dead animal shall be his.

35 And if a man's ox hurts his neighbor's ox, so that it dies, they shall sell the living ox, and divide the price of it; and they shall also divide the dead one. 36 Or if it is known that the ox gored in the past, and its owner did not keep it in, he must repay ox for ox; and the dead one shall be his.