Exodus 21

21 ¹"Now these are the regulations you are to set before them:

²"When you buy a Hebrew servant, he serves six years; in the seventh he goes free, paying nothing.

³"If he came in alone, he goes out alone; if married, his wife goes out with him. ⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and children belong to her master, and he goes out alone. ⁵But if the servant clearly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' ⁶then his master brings him before our Father, then to the door or doorpost, and pierces his ear with an awl; he serves him for life. ^a a v6 The servant's ear was pierced at the doorpost as a permanent, visible mark of his free choice to belong to his master's household for life.

⁷"When a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the male servants do. ⁸If she does not please her master who chose her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He may not sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. ⁹If he designates her for his son, he is to treat her as a daughter. ¹⁰If he takes another wife, he must not reduce her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. ¹¹If he does not provide these three things, she goes free, without payment of money.

Life for Life

¹²"Whoever strikes a man so that he dies is to be put to death. ¹³But if he did not lie in wait and I let it happen, I will appoint a place for you where he may flee. ¹⁴But if a man plots against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, take him from my altar to die.

¹⁵"Whoever strikes his father or his mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶"Whoever kidnaps a man and sells him, or is caught still holding him, must be put to death.

¹⁷"Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death.

¹⁸"When men quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or fist, and the man does not die but is bedridden, ¹⁹then if he gets up and walks outside with his staff, the one who struck him goes unpunished; he must only pay for lost time and for his full recovery.

²⁰"When a man strikes his male or female servant with a rod and the servant dies, he must be avenged. ²¹But if he survives a day or two, no vengeance is taken, for the servant is his property.

²²"When men fight and strike a pregnant woman so that her child is born, but there is no further harm, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands, and pay as the judges decide. ²³But if there is further harm, then you are to give life for life, ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ^b b v24 This law set a limit on revenge — no more than the injury done. Jesus later transformed it, teaching his followers not to retaliate but to overcome evil with love (Matthew 5:38-39). ²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

²⁶"If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and destroys it, he must free the servant to compensate for the eye. ²⁷If he knocks out his male or female servant's tooth, he must let them go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸"If an ox gores a man or woman to death, it must be stoned and its meat not eaten, but its owner is not liable. ²⁹But if the ox was in the habit of goring and its owner was warned but did not pen it, and it kills a man or woman, the ox is stoned and its owner also is put to death. ³⁰If a ransom is required, he must pay whatever is demanded to spare his life. ³¹Whether it gores a son or daughter, this same rule applies. ³²If the ox gores a male or female servant, the owner pays their master about twelve ounces of silver, and the ox is stoned.

³³"If a man opens or digs a pit and leaves it uncovered, and an ox or donkey falls in, ³⁴the pit's owner must make it good, paying its owner money, and the dead animal is his.

³⁵"When one man's ox injures another's so it dies, they sell the live ox, split the price, and split the dead animal too. ³⁶But if it was known the ox gored habitually and its owner did not keep it in, he must repay ox for ox, and the dead animal is his."