Exodus 21

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "These are the rules you shall lay before them.	1 “These are the judgments which you shall place before them:
2 When you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall be given his freedom without cost.	2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve you; in the seventh, he shall depart freely, without charge.
3 If he comes into service alone, he shall leave alone; if he comes with a wife, his wife shall leave with him.	3 With whatever clothing he arrived, with the like let him depart. If he has a wife, his wife also shall depart, at the same time.
4 But if his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall remain the master's property and the man shall leave alone.	4 But if his lord gave him a wife, and she has borne sons and daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her lord. Yet still, he himself will go out with his clothing.
5 If, however, the slave declares, 'I am devoted to my master and my wife and children; I will not go free,'	5 And if the servant will say, ‘I love my lord, and my wife and children, I will not depart freely,’
6 his master shall bring him to God and there, at the door or doorpost, he shall pierce his ear with an awl, thus keeping him as his slave forever.	6 then his lord shall make an offering for him to the heavens, and it shall be applied to the door and the posts, and he will pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall be his servant in perpetuity.
7 "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do.	7 If anyone sells his daughter to be a servant, she shall not depart as a female servant is accustomed to go out.
8 But if her master, who had destined her for himself, dislikes her, he shall let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreigner, since he has broken faith with her.	8 If she displeases the eyes of her lord, to whom she had been delivered, he shall dismiss her. But he shall have no authority to sell her to a foreign people, even if he despises her.
9 If he destines her for his son, he shall treat her like a daughter.	9 But if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall treat her according to the custom with daughters.
10 If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.	10 And if he takes another for him, he shall provide to the maiden a marriage, and clothing, and he shall not refuse the price of her chastity.
11 If he does not grant her these three things, she shall be given her freedom absolutely, without cost to her.	11 If he does not do these three things, she shall depart freely, without money.
12 "Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death.	12 Whoever strikes a man, intending to murder, shall be put to death.
13 He, however, who did not hunt a man down, but caused his death by an act of God, may flee to a place which I will set apart for this purpose.	13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands, then I will appoint for you a place to which he must flee.
14 But when a man kills another after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my altar and put him to death.	14 If someone murders his neighbor with deliberation, by lying in wait, you shall tear him away from my altar, so that he may die.
15 Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.	15 Whoever strikes his father or mother shall die a death.
16 "A kidnaper, whether he sells his victim or still has him when caught, shall be put to death.	16 Whoever will have stolen a man and sold him, having been convicted of the crime, shall be put to death.
17 "Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.	17 Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother shall die a death.
18 "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, not mortally, but enough to put him in bed,	18 If men will have quarreled, and one of them has struck his neighbor with a stone or a fist, and he does not die, but lies in bed,
19 the one who struck the blow shall be acquitted, provided the other can get up and walk around with the help of his staff. Still, he must compensate him for his enforced idleness and provide for his complete cure.	19 if he gets up again and can walk outside on his staff, he who struck him will be innocent, but only if he makes sufficient restitution for his deeds and for the cost of the physicians.
20 "When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished.	20 Whoever strikes his male or female servant with a staff, and if they have died by his hands, he shall be guilty of a crime.
21 If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.	21 But if he survives for one day or two, he shall not be subject to punishment, because it is his money.
22 "When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman's husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.	22 If men will have quarreled, and one of them has struck a pregnant woman, and as a result she miscarries, but she herself survives, he shall be subject to as much damage as the husband of the woman shall petition from him, or as arbitrators shall judge.
23 But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life,	23 But if her death will have followed, he will repay a life for a life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,	24 an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.	25 a scrape for a scrape, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
26 "When a man strikes his male or female slave in the eye and destroys the use of the eye, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the eye.	26 If anyone will have struck the eye of his male or female servant, having left them with one eye, he shall release them freely, because of the eye that he has put out.
27 If he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the tooth.	27 Likewise, if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female servant, he shall similarly release them freely.
28 "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned; its flesh may not be eaten. The owner of the ox, however, shall go unpunished.	28 If an ox has struck a man or a woman with his horn, and if they die, it shall be stoned. And its flesh shall not be eaten; also, the owner of the ox will be innocent.
29 But if an ox was previously in the habit of goring people and its owner, though warned, would not keep it in; should it then kill a man or a woman, not only must the ox be stoned, but its owner also must be put to death.	29 But if the ox had been pushing with his horn, from yesterday and the day before, and they warned his owner, but he did not confine it, and it will have killed a man or a woman, then the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be killed.
30 If, however, a fine is imposed on him, he must pay in ransom for his life whatever amount is imposed on him.	30 But if they have imposed a price on him, he shall give, in exchange for his life, whatever is asked.
31 This law applies if it is a boy or a girl that the ox gores.	31 Likewise, if it has struck a son or a daughter with its horns, it shall be subject to a similar verdict.
32 But if it is a male or a female slave that it gores, he must pay the owner of the slave thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.	32 If it attacks a male or female servant, he shall give thirty shekels of silver to their lord, yet truly the ox shall be stoned.
33 "When a man uncovers or digs a cistern and does not cover it over again, should an ox or an ass fall into it,	33 If a man digs or opens a cistern, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34 the owner of the cistern must make good by restoring the value of the animal to its owner; the dead animal, however, he may keep.	34 then the owner of the cistern shall repay the price of the beasts, and what is dead will belong to him.
35 "When one man's ox hurts another's ox so badly that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide this money as well as the dead animal equally between them.	35 If the ox of a stranger wounds the ox of another, and it has died, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price, but the carcass of the dead one they shall distribute between them.
36 But if it was known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner would not keep it in, he must make full restitution, an ox for an ox; but the dead animal he may keep. (v 37) "When a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox, and four sheep for the one sheep.	36 But if he knew that his ox had pushed with its horns, yesterday and the day before, and its owner did not confine it, then he shall repay an ox for an ox, and he will receive the whole carcass.”