Servants and Their Rights

1 And these are the judgments which you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a servant, a son of Israel, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, without payment. 3 If he came in alone, he shall go out alone; if he was married, his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall belong to the master, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the servant plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free, 6 his master shall bring him before the judges,⁠a and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall be his servant who works for him forever. 7 And when a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants go out. 8 If she displeases her master, who had designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to another man, to rule over her. 9 And if he has designated her for his son, he shall treat her according to the custom of the daughters of Israel. 10 If he takes another wife for himself, he shall not reduce her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out free, without payment of money.

Injuries and Compensation

12 Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 But if it was not done by lying in wait for him, but he was delivered into his hand from the Lord's presence, then I will appoint a place for you to which he may flee. 14 But when a man acts wickedly against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him even from My altar to put him to death. 15 Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 16 And whoever kidnaps a person of the house of Israel and sells him, or if he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death. 17 And whoever curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 18 And when men quarrel, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 if he gets up again and walks around outside on his staff, the one who struck him shall go unpunished; only he shall pay for his lost work and pay the physician's fee. 20 And when a man strikes his servant or his female servant with a staff, and he dies under his hand, he will surely be judged.⁠b 21 But if he survives a day or two, he shall not be judged, because he is his property. 22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, but she does not die, he shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband may impose on him, and he shall pay according to the decision of the judges. 23 But if death results, you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,⁠c 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 And if a man strikes the eye of his servant or his female servant and destroys it, he shall let him go free because of his eye. 27 Or if he knocks out a tooth of his servant or a tooth of his female servant, he shall let him go free because of his tooth. 28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall not be held liable. 29 But if the ox had been in the habit of goring before, and its owner had been warned, and he did not keep it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a monetary fine is laid on him, he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him. 31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter of Israel, it shall be done to him according to this same judgment. 32 If an ox gores a male or female servant, the owner shall give their master thirty selas of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 And if a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall pay: he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. 35 And if one man's ox injures his neighbor's ox so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide the money; and they shall also divide the dead one. 36 But if it was known that the ox had been in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner did not keep it in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead one shall be his. 37 If a man steals an ox or a lamb, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the lamb.