Exodus 21Previous Chapter | Next ChapterOrdinances for the People1“Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:2“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.3“If he comes Lit by himselfalone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.4“If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out Lit by himselfalone.5“But if the slave plainly says, `I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,'6then his master shall bring him to Or the judges who acted in God's nameGod, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.7“If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to Lit go outgo free as the male slaves do.8“If she is Lit baddispleasing in the eyes of her master Another reading is so that he did not designate herwho designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his Lit dealing treacherouslyunfairness to her.9“If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.10“If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her Lit fleshfood, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.11“If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.Personal Injuries12“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.13“But Lit he whoif he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.14“If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die.15“He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.16“He who Lit stealskidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his Lit handpossession, shall surely be put to death.17“He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.18“If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but Lit liesremains in bed,19if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his Lit his sittingloss of time, and Lit healing, he shall cause to be healedshall take care of him until he is completely healed.20“If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies Lit underat his hand, he shall Lit suffer vengeancebe punished.21“If, however, he Lit standssurvives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his Lit moneyproperty.22“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that Or an untimely birth occurs; lit her children come outshe gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband Lit lays on himmay demand of him, and he shall pay Lit by arbitrationas the judges decide.23“But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,25burn for burn, wound for wound, Lit weltbruise for bruise.26“If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.27“And if he Lit causes to fallknocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.28“If an ox gores a man or a woman Lit so that he diesto death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.29“If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.30“If a ransom is Lit laid on himdemanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.31“Whether it gores a son or Lit gores a daughtera daughter, it shall be done to him according to Lit this judgmentthe same rule.32“If the ox gores a male or female slave, Lit hethe owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.33“If a man opens a pit, or Lit if a man digsdigs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,34the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall Lit give backgive money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.35“If one man's ox hurts another's so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox.36“Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.
ordinances which you are to set before them:2“If you buy 
alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.4“If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out 
