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Exodus 21
1 Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out
free without payment.
3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he was the husband of a wife,
then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master gives him a wife, and she has borne 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 answers to say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not
go out free,
6 then his master shall bring him to God. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the
doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him always.
7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male
slaves go out.
8 If she is disagreeable to the eye of her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he
shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no power to sell her to a foreign people, since he
has dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the manner of
daughters.
10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her conjugal
rights.
11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without money.
12 He who strikes a man so that he dies shall be executed to death.
13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God allowed the meeting into his hand, then I
will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
14 But if a man comes presumptuously against his neighbor, to kill him by deceit, you
shall take him even from My altar, that he may die.
15 And he who strikes his father or his mother shall be executed to death.
16 He who steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall be executed to
death.
17 And he who curses his father or his mother shall be executed to death.
18 If men strive with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and
he does not die but is confined to his bed,
19 if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be
acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be healed
of his injuries.
20 And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his
hand, vengeance shall be taken to avenge.
21 Nevertheless, if he continues a day or two, vengeance shall not be taken; for he is part
of his assets.
22 If men fight, and strike a pregnant woman, so that the child comes forth, without
harm, he shall be punished to pay a fine as the woman's husband imposes upon him; and
he shall pay according to the assessment.
23 But if there is harm, then you shall requite soul for soul;
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him
go free in exchange for his eye.
27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free
for his tooth.
28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall be stoned to death with
stones, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted.
29 But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and the owner has been given
warning, and he has not kept it restrained, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox
shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
30 If a ransom is imposed upon him, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is
imposed upon him.
31 Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be
done unto him.
32 If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of
silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a
donkey falls into it,
34 the owner of the pit shall make compensation; he shall give money to the owner, and
the dead animal shall be his.
35 If one man's ox strikes against the ox of his neighbor, so that it dies, then they shall
sell the live ox and divide the money; and the dead ox they shall also divide.
36 Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept
it restrained, he shall make compensation to pay, ox for ox, and the dead shall be his.
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