Chapter 21
1 Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before
them.
2 If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and
in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
3 If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he
be married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or
daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out
by himself.
5 But if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my
wife, and my children; I will not go out free;
6 then his master shall bring him unto G-d, and shall bring
him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she
shall not go out as the men-servants do.
8 If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to
himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he
shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her
after the manner of daughters.
10 If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and
her conjugal rights, shall he not diminish.
11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go
out for nothing, without money.
12 He that smiteth a man, so
that he dieth, shall surely be put to death.
13 And if a man lie not in wait, but G-d cause it to come to
hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he may flee.
14 And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to
slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die.
15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be
surely put to death.
16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be
found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17 And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely
be put to death.
18 And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone,
or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed;
19 if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then
shall he that smote him be quit; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and
shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20 And if a man smite his bondman, or his bondwoman, with a
rod, and he die under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 Notwithstanding if he continue a day or two, he shall not
be punished; for he is his money.
22 And if men strive
together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm
follow, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay
upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for
life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot,
25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 And if a man smite the eye of his bondman, or the eye of
his bondwoman, and destroy it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27 And if he smite out his bondman's tooth, or his
bondwoman's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
28 And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox
shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the
ox shall be quit.
29 But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and warning
hath been given to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a
man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to
death.
30 If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for
the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
31 Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter,
according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
32 If the ox gore a bondman or a bondwoman, he shall give
unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit
and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,
34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give
money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his.
35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, so that it dieth; then
they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they
shall divide.
36 Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time
past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the
dead beast shall be his own.
37 If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it,
he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
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