Exodus 21
21
1“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them:
2“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. 3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’ 6then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
7“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. 8If she doesn’t please her master, who has married 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. 9If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. 10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. 11If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
12“One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death, 13but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. 14If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbour to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15“Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17“Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18“If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed; 19if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20“If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished. 21Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property.
22“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow. 23But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26“If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. 27If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. 29But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed. 31Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgement it shall be done to him. 32If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels#21:32 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 30 shekels is about 300 grams or about 10.6 ounces. of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal. 36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
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Exodus 21
21
Hebrew slaves
(Deuteronomy 15.12-18)
1The LORD gave Moses the following laws for his people:
2If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him.#Lv 25.39-46. 3If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. 4If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.
5But suppose the slave loves his wife and children so much that he won't leave without them. 6Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship,#21.6 at the place of worship: The Hebrew text has “in the presence of God”, which probably refers to the place where God was worshipped. while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.
7A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. 8If she doesn't please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back.#21.8 bought back: Either by her family or by another Israelite who wanted to marry her. He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. 9If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.
10If the man later marries another woman, he must continue to provide food and clothing for the one he bought and to treat her as a wife. 11If he fails to do any of these things, she must be given her freedom without cost.
Murder and other violent crimes
The LORD said:
12Death is the punishment for murder.#Lv 24.17. 13But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the LORD, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside.#Nu 35.10-34; Dt 19.1-13; Js 20.1-9. 14If you plan in advance to murder someone, there's no escape, not even by holding on to my altar.#21.14 altar: As a rule, anyone who ran to the altar was safe from the death penalty, until proved guilty. You will be dragged off and killed.
15Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.
16Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.#Dt 24.7.
17Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.#Lv 20.9; Mt 15.4; Mk 7.10.
18Suppose two of you are arguing, and you hit the other with either a rock or your fist, without causing a fatal injury. If the victim has to stay in bed, 19and later has to use a stick when walking outside, you must pay for the loss of time and do what you can to help until the injury is completely healed. That's your only responsibility.
20Death is the punishment for beating to death any of your slaves. 21However, if the slave lives a few days after the beating, you are not to be punished. After all, you have already lost the services of that slave who was your property.
22Suppose a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage#21.22 suffers a miscarriage: Or “gives birth before her time”. as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting. If she isn't badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve. 23But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,#Lv 24.19,20; Dt 19.21; Mt 5.38. 25burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise.
26If you hit one of your slaves and cause the loss of an eye, the slave must be set free. 27The same law applies if you knock out a slave's tooth—the slave goes free.
28A bull that kills someone with its horns must be killed and its meat destroyed, but the owner of the bull isn't responsible for the death.
29Suppose you own a bull that has been in the habit of attacking people, but you have refused to keep it fenced in. If that bull kills someone, both you and the bull must be put to death by stoning. 30However, you may save your own life by paying whatever fine is demanded. 31This same law applies if the bull gores someone's son or daughter. 32If the bull kills a slave, you must pay the slave owner thirty pieces of silver for the loss of the slave, and the bull must be killed by stoning.
33Suppose someone's ox or donkey is killed by falling into an open pit that you dug or left uncovered on your property. 34You must pay for the dead animal, and it becomes yours.
35If your bull kills someone else's, yours must be sold. Then the money from your bull and the meat from the dead bull must be divided equally between you and the other owner.
36If you refuse to fence in a bull that is known to attack others, you must pay for any animal it kills, but the dead animal will belong to you.
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