Laws About Violence & About Animals |
Exodus 21:1-36 The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus |
[The Lord God has Moses tell these to the Israelites:] These are the judgments you shall set before them. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve 6 years & shall go out free in the 7th year & [owe] nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he [was] married, his wife shall go out with him. |
If the master [has] given him a wife & she has bore him sons or daughters, he shall go out by himself & his wife & the children shall be her master’s. But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, wife & children & I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to the judges & also bring him to the door or doorpost. |
The master will [pierce] his ear with an awl & he shall serve him forever. If a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. |
If she doesn’t please her master, who [has chosen to marry her,] then he shall let her be redeemed & has no [right] to sell her to a [foreign] nation, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. If he [has arranged for her to marry] his son, he shall deal with her [according] to the [custom] of daughters. |
If he takes another wife [for himself,] he shall [continue to give her the same amount of:] food, clothing,] and her [marriage rights] shall not be [reduced.] If he doesn’t do all three of these [for] her, she shall go out free without [owing] money. He who [strikes] a man & so that he [dies,] shall surely be put to death. |
If he didn’t lie in wait [for him,] but God delivered [the man] into his hand, then I will appoint a place where he shall flee. But if a man [makes plans in advance] to [kill] his neighbor [& slyly kills him,] you shall take him from My altar, [so] that he may die. The [man who strikes] his father or mother shall surely be put to death. |
He who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death. The [person who kidnaps] a man & [sells] him or if the [kidnaped person] is found [with him,] the [kidnapper] shall surely be put to death. He [who] curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. |
If men [quarrel with each other] & one [strikes] the other with a stone or his fist & he does not die, but is [confined to] bed, the man who struck him shall be [acquitted] if he rises again & walks [outside] with his staff & only pay for the loss of the [injured man’s] time & shall [pay] for him to be thoroughly healed. |
If a man [strikes] his servant or maid, with a rod & he [dies] under his hand, he shall surely be punished. [However,] if the [the servant recovers after] a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his money. |
If men [fight] & hurt a [pregnant] woman, so that she [gives birth prematurely,] [but] no [harm] follows, he shall surely be punished according as the woman’s husband [demands from] him & he shall pay as the judges determine. |
But if any [harm follows,] then you [shall] give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for [whip] stripe. If a man [strikes] the eye of his servant or maid & [destroys it,] he shall let him go free for the sake [of] his eye. |
If he [knocks] out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his [tooth.] If an ox [gores] a man or a woman [to death,] the ox shall surely be stoned & its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox is [acquitted.] |
If the ox had a [tendency] to push with his horn in [the] past & the owner [knew it] & didn’t keep [it confined] & [has] killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned & the owner shall be put to death. If a sum of money is [demanded of] him, then to [redeem] his life, he shall [whatever amount is required of] him. |
Whether [the ox] gored a son or a daughter, according to this judgment, it shall be done to him. If the ox [pushes] a male servant or maid servant, he shall give their master 30 shekels of silver & the ox shall be stoned. |
If a man shall open a pit, or if a man [digs] an open pit & doesn’t cover it & an ox or a [donkey] falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good & give money to [their] owner, but the dead [animal] shall be the [pit owner’s.] If one man’s ox [kills] another man’s ox, they shall sell the live ox & divide the money [from] it & divide the dead ox. |
If it is known that the ox [tended] to push [his horn] in the past, but his owner [didn’t keep him confined,] he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead [animal] shall be his. |