Exodus 21
21
CHAPTER 21
1These be the dooms, which thou shalt set forth to them.
2If thou buyest an Hebrew servant, he shall serve thee six years; in the seventh year he shall go out free, without price;
3with what manner clothes he entered, with such clothes go he out; if he entered having a wife, also the wife shall go out together with him.
4But if the lord of a servant gave a wife to him, and she childed sons and daughters, the woman and her children shall be her lord’s; soothly the servant shall go out with his own clothes.
5And if the servant saith, I love my lord, and my wife, and children, I will not go out free;
6his lord shall bring him to [the] gods, that is, judges; and he shall be set to the door, and to the doorposts; and his lord shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall be servant to him till into the world.
7If any man selleth his daughter into a servantess, she shall not go out as handmaids were wont to go out;
8if she displeaseth in the eyes of her lord, to whom she was betaken, he shall deliver her; soothly he shall not have power to sell her to an alien people, if he forsaketh her.
9Forsooth if he weddeth her to his son, he shall do to her by the custom of daughters;
10and if he take with this handmaid another woman, or wife, to his son, he shall purvey to the first damsel, or handmaid, weddings, and clothes, and he shall not deny her the price of her chastity, that is, the hour of yielding debt.
11If he doeth not to her these three, she shall go out freely without money.
12He that smiteth a man, and will slay him, die he by death;
13forsooth if a man setteth not ambush, but God betook him into his hands, I shall ordain a place to thee, whither he oweth to flee.
14If any man slayeth his neighbour by before-casting, and by ambush, draw thou him away from mine altar, that he die.
15He that smiteth his father, or his mother, die he by death.
16He that curseth his father, or mother, die he by death.
17He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, if he is convicted of the guilt, die he by death.
18If men chide, and the tother smite his neighbour with a stone, or with the fist, and he is not dead, but lieth in the bed,
19if he riseth, and goeth forth on his staff, he that smote shall be innocent; so nevertheless that he restore to him for his travails, and his costs in leeches.
20He that smiteth his servant, or handmaid, with a rod, and they be dead in his hands, he shall be guilty of the crime, or hideous trespass.
21Soothly if the servant liveth over this beating one day, or twain [or two], the smiter shall not be subject to the pain of death, for the servant is his master’s chattel.
22If men chide, and a man smiteth a woman with child, and soothly he maketh the child dead-born, but the woman liveth over that smiting, he shall be subject to the harm, as much as the woman’s husband asketh, and as the judges deem.
23Soothly if the death of her pursueth [or follow], he shall yield life for life,
24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25burning for burning, wound for wound, sore for sore.
26If a man smiteth the eye of his servant, either of his handmaid, and maketh them one-eyed, he shall deliver them free for the eye which he put out.
27Also if he smite out a tooth of his servant, or [his] handmaid, in like manner he shall deliver them free.
28If an ox smiteth with his horn either man, or woman, and they be dead, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten, and the lord of the ox shall be guiltless.
29That if the ox was an horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men warned his lord, neither the lord enclosed him, and he slayeth a man, or a woman, both the ox shall be thrown adown with stones, and they shall slay his lord;
30that if the price be put to the lord, he shall give for his life whatever he is asked.
31And if he smiteth with horn a man’s son, and his daughter, his lord shall be subject to the same sentence.
32If the ox assaileth a manservant, and an handmaid, the lord of the ox shall give thirty shekels of silver to the lord of that servant; forsooth the ox shall be oppressed with stones.
33If any man openeth a cistern, or a pit, and diggeth it, and covereth it not, and an ox either an ass falleth into it,
34the lord of the cistern shall yield the price of the beasts; forsooth that that is dead shall be his.
35If one man’s ox woundeth the ox of another man, and he is dead, they shall sell the quick ox, and they shall part [or divide] the price; soothly they shall part betwixt them the carcass of the dead ox.
36Forsooth if the lord knew, that his ox was a horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and kept not him in, he shall yield ox for ox, and he shall take the whole dead carcass.
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Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017
Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015
Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015
Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011
Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010
Exodus 21
21
Hebrew Slaves
(Deuteronomy 15.12-18)
1The Lord gave Moses the following laws for his people:
2 #
Lv 25.39-46. If 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. 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 and his owner so much that he won't leave 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 worshiped. 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 paying for it.
Murder and Other Violent Crimes
The Lord said:
12 #
Lv 24.17. Death is the punishment for murder. 13#Nu 35.10-34; Dt 19.1-13; Js 20.1-9. But 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. 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 proven guilty. You will be dragged off and killed.
15Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.
16 #
Dt 24.7. Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.
17 #
Lv 20.9; Mt 15.4; Mk 7.10. Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.
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, 24#Lv 24.19,20; Dt 19.19-21; Mt 5.38. eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 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 30 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 replace any animal it kills, but the dead animal will belong to you.
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