Chapter 21
1 "These are the rules you shall lay before them.
2 When you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to
serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall be given his freedom
without cost. 3 If he comes into service alone,
he shall leave alone; if he comes with a wife, his wife shall leave with him. 4 But if his master gives him a wife and she bears him
sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall remain the master's
property and the man shall leave alone. 5 If,
however, the slave declares, 'I am devoted to my master and my wife and
children; I will not go free,' 6 his master
shall bring him to God and there, at the door or doorpost, he shall pierce his
ear with an awl, thus keeping him as his slave forever. 7 "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go
free as male slaves do. 8 But if her master, who
had destined her for himself, dislikes her, he shall let her be redeemed. He
has no right to sell her to a foreigner, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he destines her for his son, he shall treat her
like a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife, he
shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. 11 If he does not grant her these three things, she
shall be given her freedom absolutely, without cost to her.
12 "Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be
put to death. 13 He, however, who did not hunt a
man down, but caused his death by an act of God, may flee to a place which I
will set apart for this purpose. 14 But when a
man kills another after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even
from my altar and put him to death.
15 Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put
to death. 16 "A kidnaper, whether he sells
his victim or still has him when caught, shall be put to death. 17 "Whoever curses his father or mother shall be
put to death.
18 "When men quarrel and one strikes the other
with a stone or with his fist, not mortally, but enough to put him in bed, 19 the one who struck the blow shall be acquitted,
provided the other can get up and walk around with the help of his staff.
Still, he must compensate him for his enforced idleness and provide for his
complete cure.
20 "When a man strikes his male or female slave
with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. 21 If, however, the slave survives for a day or two,
he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.
22 "When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant
woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one
shall be fined as much as the woman's husband demands of him, and he shall pay
in the presence of the judges. 23 But if injury
ensues, you shall give life for life, 24 eye for
eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn
for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 "When a man strikes his male or female slave
in the eye and destroys the use of the eye, he shall let the slave go free in
compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out a
tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free in
compensation for the tooth.
28 "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death,
the ox must be stoned; its flesh may not be eaten. The owner of the ox,
however, shall go unpunished. 29 But if an ox
was previously in the habit of goring people and its owner, though warned,
would not keep it in; should it then kill a man or a woman, not only must the
ox be stoned, but its owner also must be put to death. 30
If, however, a fine is imposed on him, he must pay in ransom for his life
whatever amount is imposed on him. 31 This law
applies if it is a boy or a girl that the ox gores. 32
But if it is a male or a female slave that it gores, he must pay the owner of
the slave thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.
33 "When a man uncovers or digs a cistern and
does not cover it over again, should an ox or an ass fall into it, 34 the owner of the cistern must make good by
restoring the value of the animal to its owner; the dead animal, however, he
may keep. 35 "When one man's ox hurts
another's ox so badly that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide this
money as well as the dead animal equally between them. 36
But if it was known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring and its
owner would not keep it in, he must make full restitution, an ox for an ox; but
the dead animal he may keep.
37 "When a man steals an ox or a sheep and
slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox, and four
sheep for the one sheep.
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