21:1 These are the decisions that you will set before them:

21:2 If you buy² a Hebrew servant,³ he will serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free⁴ without paying anything.⁵ 21:3 If he came⁶ in by himself⁷ he will go out by himself; if he had⁸ a wife when he comes in, then his wife will go out with him. 21:4 If his master gave⁹ him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself. 21:5 But if the servant should declare,¹⁰ ‘I love my master, and my wife, and my children; I will not go out¹¹ free,’ 21:6 then his master will bring him to the judges,¹² and he will bring him to the door, or the doorposts, and his master will bore through his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.¹³

21:7 If a man sells his daughter¹⁴ as a maidservant,¹⁵ she will not go out as the men servants do. 21:8 If she does not please¹⁶ her master, who has desired her¹⁷ for himself, then he must let her be redeemed.¹⁸ He has no right¹⁹ to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully²⁰ with her. 21:9 And if he designated her for his son, then he will deal with her after the manner²¹ of daughters. 21:10 If he takes another wife,²² her food,²³ her clothing, and her marital rights he must not diminish.²⁴ 21:11 And if he does not provide her with these three things, then she will go out free, without paying money.²⁵

21:12 Whoever strikes someone²⁷ so that he dies²⁸ will surely be put to death.²⁹ 21:13 But if he does not do it with premeditation,³⁰ but it comes about by accident, then I will appoint a place to which he may flee. 21:14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him with guile,³¹ you will take him from my altar to die.

21:15 And whoever strikes³² his father and his mother will surely be put to death.

21:16 And whoever kidnaps someone³³ and sells him,³⁴ or he is found still holding him,³⁵ will surely be put to death.

21:17 And whoever curses³⁶ his father or his mother will surely be put to death.

21:18 And if men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but must remain in bed,³⁷ 21:19 and then³⁸ if he rises and walks about³⁹ outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, only he must pay⁴⁰ for his loss of time⁴¹ and see that he fully is healed.

21:20 And if a man strikes his servant, or his maid, with a rod, so that he dies as a result of the blow,⁴² he will surely be punished.⁴³ 21:21 However, if he survives a day or two days, he will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss.⁴⁴

21:22 And if men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely,⁴⁵ but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband will put on him, and he will pay what the court decides.⁴⁶ 21:23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, 21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.⁴⁷

21:26 And if a man strikes the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maidservant, so that he destroys it,⁴⁸ he will let him go free⁴⁹ for the sake of his eye. 21:27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his servant, or the tooth of his maidservant, he will let him go free for the sake of the tooth.

21:28 If a bull⁵¹ gores a man or a woman so that either dies,⁵² then the ox must surely⁵³ be stoned, and his flesh must not be eaten; but the owner of the bull will be acquitted. 21:29 But if the bull had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned,⁵⁴ and he did not take the necessary precautions,⁵⁵ and then it killed a man or a woman, the bull must be stoned and the man will be put to death. 21:30 If a ransom is set for him,⁵⁶ then he may pay the redemption for his life according to whatever was set for him. 21:31 If it gores a son, or gores a daughter, according to this judgment will it be done to him. 21:32 If the bull gores a servant or a maidservant, he must pay thirty shekels of silver,⁵⁷ and the ox must be stoned.⁵⁸

21:33 If a man opens a pit, or if he digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox falls into it, or a donkey, 21:34 the owner of the pit must repay⁵⁹ the loss, he must give money⁶⁰ to the owner of them, and the dead animal⁶¹ will be his. 21:35 And if the bull of one man injures the bull of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live bull and divide its proceeds,⁶² and they will also divide the dead bull.⁶³ 21:36 Or if it is known that the bull had the habit of goring, and its owner did not take the necessary precautions, he must surely pay⁶⁴ bull for bull, and the dead animal will be his.⁶⁵