Exodus 21

Regulations for Female Servants Exodus 21:7–11

⁷Verse 7. “If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. ⁸Verse 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. ⁹Verse 9. If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. ¹⁰Verse 10. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. ¹¹Verse 11. If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

Laws on Personal Injury Exodus 21:12–17

¹²Verse 12. “One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death, ¹³Verse 13. but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. ¹⁴Verse 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. ¹⁵Verse 15. “Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. ¹⁶Verse 16. “Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷Verse 17. “Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

Rules for Injuries and Compensation Exodus 21:18–27

¹⁸Verse 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; ¹⁹Verse 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. ²⁰Verse 20. “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹Verse 21. Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.

²²Verse 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. ²³Verse 23. But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, ²⁴Verse 24. eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵Verse 25. burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. ²⁶Verse 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. ²⁷Verse 27. If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

Liability for Property Damage Exodus 21:28–36

²⁸Verse 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. ²⁹Verse 29. But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it 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. ³⁰Verse 30. If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.

³¹Verse 31. Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. ³²Verse 32. If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. ³³Verse 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, ³⁴Verse 34. the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. ³⁵Verse 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.

³⁶Verse 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.