[1] Now these are the laws which you are to put before them. [2] If you get
a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in
the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment. [3] If he
comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let
his wife go away with him. [4] If his master gives him a wife, and he gets
sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of
the master, and the servant is to go away by himself. [5] But if the
servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I
have no desire to be free: [6] Then his master is to take him to the gods
of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in
his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for
ever. [7] And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she
is not to go away free as the men-servants do. [8] If she is not pleasing
to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her
so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and
send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her. [9] And if he
gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his
daughter. [10] And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her
married rights are not to be less. [11] And if he does not do these three
things for her, she has the right to go free without payment. [12] He who
gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death. [13] But if he had
no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give
you a place to which he may go in flight. [14] But if a man makes an attack
on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take
him from my altar and put him to death. [15] Any man who gives a blow to
his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death. [16] Any man who
gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to
death, if you take him in the act. [17] Any man cursing his father or his
mother is to be put to death. [18] If, in a fight, one man gives another a
blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making
him keep in bed; [19] If he is able to get up again and go about with a
stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for
the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well. [20] If
a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing
death, he is certainly to undergo punishment. [21] But, at the same time,
if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get
punishment, for the servant is his property. [22] If men, while fighting,
do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no
other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount
fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges. [23]
But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life, [24] Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, [25] Burning for
burning, wound for wound, blow for blow. [26] If a man gives his
man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its
destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye.
[27] Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go
free on account of his tooth. [28] If an ox comes to be the cause of death
to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used
for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible. [29] But if the ox
has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of
it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the
death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is
to be put to death. [30] If a price is put on his life, let him make
payment of whatever price is fixed. [31] If the death of a son or of a
daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this
rule. [32] If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by
the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the
ox is to be stoned. [33] If a man makes a hole in the earth without
covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;
[34] The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to
their owner, but the dead beast will be his. [35] And if one man's ox does
damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be
exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price
of the dead one. [36] But if it is common knowledge that the ox has
frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it
under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be
his.
