Laws for Servants

1And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

2If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee, and in the seventh year he shall go forth free for nothing. 3If he should have come in alone, he shall also go forth alone; and if his wife should have gone in together with him, his wife also shall go out. 4Moreover, if his master give him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be his master's; and he shall go forth alone. 5And if the servant should answer and say, I love my master and wife and children, I will not go away free; 6his master shall bring him to the judgment-seat of God, and then shall he bring him to the door, —to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

7And if any one sell his daughter as a domestic, she shall not depart as the maid-servants depart. 8If she be not pleasing to her master, after she has betrothed herself to him, he shall let her go free; but he is not at liberty to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has trifled with her. 9And if he should have betrothed her to his son, he shall do to her according to the right of daughters. 10And if he take another to himself, he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship with him. 11And if he will not do these three things to her, she shall go out free without money.

Personal Injury Laws

12And if any man smite another and he die, let him be certainly put to death. 13But as for him that did it not willingly, but God delivered him into his hands, I will give thee a place whither the slayer may flee. 14And if any one lie in wait for his neighbour to slay him by craft, and he go for refuge, thou shalt take him from my altar to put him to death.

15Whoever smites his father or his mother, let him be certainly put to death.

16Whosoever shall steal one of the children of Israel, and prevail over him and sell him, and he be found with him, let him certainly die.

17He that reviles his father or his mother shall surely die.

18And if two men revile each other and smite the one the other with a stone or his fist, and he die not, but be laid upon his bed; 19if the man arise and walk abroad on his staff, he that smote him shall be clear; only he shall pay for his loss of time, and for his healing.

20And if a man smite his man-servant or his maid-servant, with a rod, and the party die under his hands, he shall be surely punished. 21But if the servant continue to live a day or two, let not the master be punished; for he is his money.

22And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman's husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation. 23But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26And if one smite the eye of his man-servant, or the eye of his maid-servant, and put it out, he shall let them go free for their eye's sake. 27And if he should smite out the tooth of his man-servant, or the tooth of his maid-servant, he shall send them away free for their tooth's sake.

28And if a bull gore a man or woman and they die, the bull shall be stoned with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall be clear. 29But if the bull should have been given to goring in former time, and men should have told his owner, and he have not removed him, but he should have slain a man or woman, the bull shall be stoned, and his owner shall die also. 30And if a ransom should be imposed on him, he shall pay for the ransom of his soul as much as they shall lay upon him. 31And if the bull gore a son or daughter, let them do to him according to this ordinance. 32And if the bull gore a man-servant or maid-servant, he shall pay to their master thirty silver didrachms, and the bull shall be stoned.

Laws about Restitution

33And if any one open a pit or dig a cavity in stone, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall in there, 34the owner of the pit shall make compensation; he shall give money to their owner, and the dead shall be his own.

35And if any man's bull gore the bull of his neighbour, and it die, they shall sell the living bull and divide the money, and they shall divide the dead bull. 36But if the bull be known to have been given to goring in time past, and they have testified to his owner, and he have not removed him, he shall repay bull for bull, but the dead shall be his own.