Top of Page
Page Style
are the ordinances you are to set before them:
2 “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you six years; but in the seventh year he shall leave as a free man without paying anything. 3 If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; but if he arrives with a wife, then his wife is to leave with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, then the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man’, 6 then his master is to take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will serve his master for life.
7 “If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has acted treacherously toward her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must treat her according to the customary treatment of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he mush not deprive the first wife of food, clothing, and marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if it was not intentional, however, and God let it happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
14 “But if a man schemes against another man and deliberately kills him, you must take him from My altar and put him to death.
15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.
16 “Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or still has him in his possession when he is caught.
17 “Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death.
18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 but later recovers and walks around outside with his staff, then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, except that he must pay for the injured man for the loss of his time and provide for his complete recovery.
20 “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies at his hand, he must be punished. 21 But if the slave gets up after a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.
22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the person responsible must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the judges determine. 23 But if it is a serious injury, then you must take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten; but the owner of the ox will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it restrained and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned to death, and its owner must also be put to death. 30 However, if a ransom is imposed on the owner, then the owner may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded of him. 31 If the ox gores a boy or a girl, the owner must be dealt with according to this same law. 32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.
33 “If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, 34 the owner of the pit must pay restitution. He must pay money to its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
35 “If one man’s ox injures the ox of another so that it dies, then they are to sell the live ox and divide both the money from it and the dead ox equally. 36 However, if it was known that the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has not kept it restrained, the owner must pay in full, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.