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The Second Book of Moses: Exodus

Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic

- Chapter 21 -

(Deuteronomy 15:12–18)
1
“Here are some other instructions to give to the Israelite people.
2
When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for only six years. In the seventh year you must free him from being your slave, and he does not have to pay you anything for setting him free.
3
If he was not married before he became your slave, and if he marries someone while he is your slave, his wife is not to be set free with him. But if he was married before he became your slave, you must free both him and his wife.
4
If the master of a slave gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters while her husband is a slave, only the man is to be freed. His wife and children will continue to be slaves of their master.
5
But when it is time for the slave to be set free, if the slave says, ‘I love my master and my wife and my children, and I do not want to be set free,’
6
then his master must take him to the place where they worship God. There he must make the slave stand against the door or the doorpost. Then the master will use an awl to make a hole in the slave’s ear and fasten something to the slave’s ear to show that he will own that slave for the rest of his life.
7
If a man sells his daughter to become a slave, she should not be set free after six years as the male slaves are.
8
If the man who bought her wanted her to be his concubine, but if later he is not pleased with her, he must sell her back to her father. He must not sell her to a foreigner because that would be breaking the contract he made with the girl’s father.
9
If the man who buys her wants her to be a wife for his son, he must then treat her as though she were his own daughter.
10
If the master takes another slave girl to be another woman for himself, he must continue to give the first slave concubine the same amount of food and clothing that he gave to her before, and he must continue to sleep with her as before.
11
If he does not do these three things for her, he must free her from being a slave, and she is not required to pay anything for being set free.

Personal Injury Laws

12
If someone hits a man in order to kill him and the man dies, then that person should also be put to death.
13
But if the one who hit the other did not mean to kill that person, the one who hit him can go to a place that I will choose for you, and he will be safe there.
14
But if someone gets angry with another person and kills him on purpose, even if the murderer runs to the altar, you must kill him.
15
Anyone who strikes his father or mother must be killed.
16
Anyone who kidnaps another person, either in order to sell that person or to keep him as a slave, must be killed.
17
Anyone who curses or insults his father or his mother must be killed.
18
Suppose two people fight, and one hits the other with a stone or his fist. Suppose the person he strikes does not die but is injured and has to stay in bed for a while,
19
but later he is able to walk outside using a cane. Then they must not punish the person who hit him, except that they must make him pay the injured person the money he could not earn while he was recovering as well as the costs for healing.
20
If someone hits his male or female slave with a stick, and if the slave dies, then the one who struck him must be punished.
21
But if the slave lives for a day or two after he is hit and then dies, you must not punish the one who hit him. Not having that slave to be able to work for him any longer is enough punishment.
22
If two people are fighting and they hurt a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but the woman is not harmed in any other way, the one who hurt her must pay a fine. He must pay whatever the woman’s husband asks after a judge approves of the fine.
23
But if the woman is hurt in another way, the one who hurt her must be caused to suffer in the same way that he caused her to suffer. If she dies, he must be killed.
24
If her eye is hurt, or if he knocks out her teeth, or her hand or foot is hurt,
25
or if she is burned or bruised, the one who hurt her must be hurt in the same way.
26
If the owner of a slave strikes the eye of his male or female slave and that eye becomes blind, he must free that slave because of what he did to the slave’s eye.
27
If someone knocks out one of his slave’s teeth, he must free the slave because of what he did to the slave’s tooth.
28
If a bull gores a man or woman with the result that the person dies, you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it, but do not eat it. The owner of the bull is not guilty.
29
But if the bull had attacked people several times before and its owner had been warned, but he did not keep the bull inside a fence, and it gores a man or woman to death, then you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it, and you must also kill its owner.
30
However, if the owner of the bull can pay a fine to save his own life, he must pay the full amount that the judges say that he must pay.
31
If someone’s bull attacks and gores another person’s son or daughter, you must treat the bull’s owner according to that same rule.
32
If a bull attacks and gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay to the slave’s owner thirty pieces of silver, and you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it.
33
Suppose someone has a pit and does not keep it covered, and someone’s bull or donkey falls into it and dies.
34
Then the owner of the pit must pay for the animal that died. He must give the money to the animal’s owner, but then he can take away the animal that died and do whatever he wants to with it.
35
If someone’s bull hurts another person’s bull so that it dies, the owners of both bulls must sell the bull that is living, and they must divide between them the money that they get for it. They must also divide between them the meat of the animal that died.
36
However, if people know that the bull often attacked other animals before, and its owner did not keep it inside a fence, then the owner of that bull must give the owner of the bull that died one of his own bulls, but he can take away the animal that died and do whatever he wants to with it.”
(Deuteronomy 15:12–18)
1
Now these are the ordinances 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 paying anything.
3
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4
If his master gives him a wife and she bears 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 to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
7
If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
8
If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9
If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
10
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
11
If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

Personal Injury Laws

12
“One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
13
but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
14
If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15
“Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16
“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17
“Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18
If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed;
19
if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20
If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished.
21
Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property.
22
If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.
23
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25
burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26
If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27
If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
28
If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
29
But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
30
If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.
31
Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
32
If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels (a) of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33
If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
34
the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35
If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
36
Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.

Footnotes

(a)21:32 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 30 shekels is about 300 grams or about 10.6 ounces.