ExodusChapter 21
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1"These are the laws you must give them: 2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he must serve you for six years. But in the seventh year he will go free. He will not have to pay anything. 3If he came by himself, he must leave by himself. If he had a wife when he came, she must leave with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she has sons or daughters, then the woman and her children will belong to her master. Only the man will go free. 5But if the servant says, 'I love my master and my wife and children. I do not want to go free,' 6Then his master must bring him before the judges. He must take him to the door or the doorpost. He must poke a hole through his ear with a sharp tool. Then he will serve his master for life.a 7If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free the way the male servants do. 8Her master may have chosen her for himself. If she does not please him, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken his promise to her. 9If he chooses her for his son, he must treat her like a daughter. 10If he marries another wife, he must still give the first wife the same food and clothing. He must not hold back her rights as a wife. 11If he does not give her these three things, she may go free. She does not have to pay any money. 12Whoever hits a man and kills him must be put to death. 13But if he did not plan it, and God let it happen, then I will choose a place for you where he can run to for safety. 14But if a man plans on purpose to kill his neighbor, you must take him away even from my altar and put him to death. 15Whoever hits his father or mother must be put to death. 16Whoever kidnaps someone must be put to death. This is true if he has sold the person, or if the person is found with him. 17Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. 18If two men are fighting and one hits the other with a stone or his fist, and the hurt man does not die but has to stay in bed, 19then the one who hit him will not be punished, as long as the other man can get up and walk around outside with his walking stick. But he must pay the man for the work time he lost. And he must make sure he is fully healed. 20If a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, and the servant dies from it, the man must surely be punished. 21But if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner will not be punished, because the servant is his property. 22If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and her child is born too early, but there is no other injury, the man must pay a fine. The woman's husband will ask for an amount, and the judges will decide. 23But if someone is badly hurt, you must take a life for a life. 24It must be eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. 26If a man hits his male or female servant in the eye and blinds it, he must let the servant go free to pay for the eye. 27If he knocks out a tooth of his male or female servant, he must let the servant go free to pay for the tooth. 28If an ox stabs a man or woman with its horns and kills them, the ox must be stoned. Its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox will not be held guilty. 29But suppose the ox has a habit of goring people, and its owner has been warned but still does not keep it penned up. If it then kills a man or woman, the ox must be stoned. And its owner must also be put to death. 30If he is told to pay money instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount he is told to pay. 31The same rule applies if the ox gores a son or a daughter. 32If the ox gores a male or female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the servant's master. And the ox must be stoned.b 33If a man uncovers a pit or digs one and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit must pay for the loss. He must pay the animal's owner. Then the dead animal will belong to him. 35If one man's ox hurts his neighbor's ox and it dies, they must sell the live ox and split the money. They must also split the dead animal. 36But if people knew that the ox had a habit of goring, and its owner did not keep it penned up, then he must pay in full, an ox for an ox. And the dead animal will belong to him."