CHAPTER 21
If
you buy
a Hebrew
servant,
he is to serve you
for six
years.
But in the seventh year,
he shall go
free
without paying anything.
If
his master
gives
him a wife
and she bears
him sons
or
daughters,
the woman
and her children
shall belong to
her master,
and only the man
shall go free.
But if
the servant
declares,
‘I love
my master
and my wife
and children;
I do not
want to go
free,’
then his master
is to bring
him before
the judges.
And he shall take him
to
the door
or
doorpost
and pierce
his ear
with an awl.
Then he shall serve his master
for life.
If
she is displeasing
in the eyes
of her master
who
had designated her for himself,
he must allow her to be redeemed.
He has no
right
to sell
her to foreigners,
since he has broken faith
with her.
If
he takes
another wife,
he must not
reduce
the food,
clothing,
or marital rights of his first wife.
If, however,
he does not
provide
her
these
three things,
she is free to go
without
monetary payment.
But if
he did not
lie in wait,
but God
allowed it to happen,
then I will appoint
for you
a place
where
he may flee.
But if
a man
schemes
and acts willfully
against
his neighbor
to kill him,
you must take him
away from
My altar
to be put to death.
Whoever kidnaps
another man
must be put to death,
whether he sells him
or the man is found
in his possession.
If
men
are quarreling
and one
strikes
the other
with a stone
or
a fist,
and he does not
die
but is confined
to bed,
then the one who struck him
shall go unpunished,
as long as
the other can get up
and walk around
outside
with
his staff.
Nevertheless,
he must compensate
the man for his lost work
and see that he is completely
healed.
If
a man
strikes
his male
or
female servant
with a rod,
and the servant dies
by
his hand,
he shall surely
be punished.
However,
if
the slave gets up
after a day
or
two,
the owner shall not
be punished,
since
the slave is
his property.
If
men
who are fighting
strike
a pregnant
woman
and her child
is born prematurely,
but there is
no further
injury,
he shall surely be fined
as
the woman’s
husband
demands
and as the court allows.
If
a man
strikes
the eye
of his manservant
or
maidservant
and blinds it,
he must let the servant go
free
in compensation for
the eye.
And if
he knocks out
the tooth
of his manservant
or
maidservant,
he must let the servant go
free
in compensation for
the tooth.
If
an ox
gores
a man
or
woman
to death,
the ox
must surely
be stoned,
and its meat
must not
be eaten.
But the owner
of the ox
shall not be held responsible.
But if
the ox
has a reputation
for goring,
and its owner
has been warned
yet does not
restrain it,
and it kills
a man
or
woman,
them the ox
must be stoned
and its owner
must also
be put to death.
If
payment
is demanded
of him instead,
he may redeem
his life
by paying
the full
amount demanded
of him.
If
the ox
gores
a manservant
or
maidservant,
the owner must pay
thirty
shekels
of silver
to the master of that servant,
and the ox
must be stoned.
the owner
of the pit
shall make restitution;
he must pay
its owner,
and the dead animal
will be
his.
If
a man’s
ox
injures
his neighbor’s
ox
and it dies,
they must sell
the live
one
and divide
the proceeds;
they also must
divide
the dead animal.
But if
it was known
that
the ox
had a habit
of goring,
yet its owner
failed
to restrain it,
he shall pay full compensation,
ox
for
ox,
and the dead animal
will be
his.