Exodus 21
Berean Standard BibleTranslation
Berean Standard Bible
Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition (1899)
1“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
1These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.
2If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee: in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
3If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.
3With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him.
4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
4But if his master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters: the woman and her children shall be her master’s: but he himself shall go out with his raiment.
5But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’
5And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free:
6then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.
6His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant for ever.
7And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
7If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out.
8If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.
8If she displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise her.
9And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter.
9But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
10And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chastity.
11If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
11If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.
12Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
12He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death.
13If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
13But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee.
14But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
14If a man kill his neighbour on set purpose and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar, that he may die.
15Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
15He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.
16Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.
16He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of guilt, shall be put to death.
17Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
17He that curseth his father, or mother, shall die the death.
18If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
18If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
19then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed.
19If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon the physicians.
20If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
20He that striketh his bondman or bondwoman with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime.
21However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.
21But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money.
22If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
22If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman’s husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award.
23But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life—
23But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life.
24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
24Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
25Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.
26If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he put out.
27And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
27Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.
28If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.
28If an ox gore a man or a woman, and they die, he shall be stoned: and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
29But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.
29But if the ox was wont to push with his horn yesterday and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, an his owner also shall be put to death.
30If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
30And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
31If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
31If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence.
32If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.
32If he assault a bondman or a bond woman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
33If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it,
34the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
34The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own.
35If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal.
35If one man’s ox gore another man’s ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part between them:
36But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.
36But if he knew that his ox was wont to push yesterday and the day before, and his master did not keep him in: he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take the whole carcass.
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