Exodus 21

CHAPTER 21

Ordinances Regarding Servants

1And these are  the ordinances which you shall place before them. 2If you should acquire [²servant ¹a Hebrew], [³six ⁴years ¹he shall serve ²to you], but the seventh year you shall send him free without charge. 3If he alone should enter, also alone he shall go forth; but if a wife should enter together with him, also the wife shall go out together with him. 4And if the master should give to him a wife, and she should bear to him, sons and daughters, the wife and the children shall be   his masters, and he alone shall go forth by himself. 5And if responding [³should have said ¹the ²servant], I have loved   my master, and   my wife, and the children; I do not run free. 6[²shall lead ³him   ¹Then his master] to the judgment seat   of God, and then lead him to the door, unto the doorpost. And [³shall make a hole in ¹his   ²master] the ear with the shoemaker's awl, and he shall serve to him into the eon. 7But if any should give over   his own daughter as a domestic servant, she shall not go forth as [³run forth ¹the ²maidservants]. 8If she should not be well-pleasing to  her master, who did not solemnly promise her; on payment of ransom he shall release her; [⁸nation ¹but ⁷to an alien ⁴not ²the master ³is ⁵to sell ⁶her], for he disrespected   her. 9And if to  his son he solemnly promised her, according to the ordinance of the daughters he shall commit to her. 10And if [²another woman  ¹he should take] to himself, the things necessary, and the clothes, and   her companionship he shall not deprive. 11And if   these three things  he should not do for her, she shall go forth freely, without paying money.

Ordinances of Liability

12And if any should strike any, and he should die, to death let him be put to death! 13But if it be done  not willingly, but   God delivered up into   his hands, I will give to you a place in which he shall flee there -- the one man-slaying. 14But if any should set against the neighbor   to kill him by treachery, and should take refuge; [³from   ⁴my altar ¹you shall take ²him] to be put to death. 15Whoever beats his father or his mother, to death he should be put to death. 16The one speaking evil of his father or his mother, to death let him come to an end! 17Who ever should steal any of any one of the sons of Israel, and tyrannizing him, should give him over, and should be found with him, to death let him come to an end! 18And if [³revile each other  ¹two ²men], and one should strike the neighbor with a stone or fist, and he should not die, but lies down upon the bed; 19if in arising, the man should walk outside upon his cane, [³will be innocent ¹the one  ²striking]; except   [²for his idleness ¹he shall pay], and the physician's fee. 20But if any strike   his servant or   his maidservant with a rod, and one should die by   his hand, with punishment let him be punished! 21And if the one should continue to live [²day ¹one] or two, he shall not be punished,   for [²his money ¹he is]. 22And if [³should do combat ¹two ²men], and should strike a woman [²in ³the womb ¹having one], and should come forth   her child not completely formed, with a fine he shall be penalized, in so far as [⁵should put upon him  ¹the ²husband ³of the ⁴woman], and he shall give by means of what is fit. 23And if [²completely formed ¹it should be], he shall give life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 26And if any should strike the eye   of his man-servant, or the eye   of his female attendant, and he should blind; [³free ¹he shall send ²them] on account   of their eye. 27And if the tooth of the man-servant, or the tooth   of his female attendant he should knock out; [³free ¹he shall send ²them] on account of   their tooth. 28And if [²should gore ¹a bull] a man or woman, and either die; with stones you shall stone the bull, and you shall not eat   of its meats; but the owner of the bull shall be innocent. 29But if the bull [²goring ¹was] before   yesterday and before the third day before, and men testified to its owner, and he should not remove it; and if it should have done away with a man or a woman, they shall stone the bull, and the owner of it shall die in addition. 30And if ransoms should be put to him, he shall give ransoms for the life of it, as much as should be put upon him. 31And if a son or daughter should be gored, according to   this ordinance they shall observe it. 32And if [⁴a manservant ³should have gored ¹the ²bull] or a maidservant, [⁴of silver ²thirty ³double-drachmas ¹he shall give] to their owner, and the bull shall be stoned. 33And if any should open a pit, or a quarry pit, and should not cover it, and [⁴should fall in ⁵there ¹a calf ²or ³donkey], 34the owner of the pit shall pay; [²money ¹he shall give] to their owner, and the animal coming to an end will be his. 35And if [³should gore ¹any ²bull] the bull of the neighbor, and it should come to an end, they shall give over   [³bull for sale  ¹the ²living], and divide the money from it, and the bull   having died they shall divide. 36And if it is made known [²the ³bull ¹that ⁵given to goring ⁴is] before   yesterday and before the third day, and [²have been testifying ¹they should] to its owner, and he did not remove it, he shall pay bull for bull, but the bull coming to an end will be his.