Exodus 21
Treat your slaves well
“Here are the laws you should give the Israelites:
“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he should work for six years, but on the seventh he should go free. If he enters your service as an individual, he should be freed as an individual, but if he has a wife, then his wife should be freed with him. If the slave owner gives his slave a wife and they have children, then the slave should be freed as an individual. But if the slave doesn’t want to be freed because he loves his slave owner, his wife, and his kids, then the slave owner should bring the slave to God and then to the gate where he’ll pierce the slave’s ear with a needle. Then the slave can work for his owner permanently.
“If a father sells his daughter as a mistress, then she shouldn’t be freed every six years like the male slaves. If her buyer doesn’t like her after committing her to himself, then he should sell her back. He isn’t allowed to sell her to a non-Israelite because of his infidelity to her. If the buyer commits the girl to his son, then he should treat her like she’s his daughter. If the buyer marries another woman, he must still provide the purchased mistress with food, clothing, and marital rights. If he doesn’t provide these three things for her, then she can be released without being sold.
Make amends when you wrong someone
“If someone kills somebody else, the killer should be executed. But if the murder wasn’t premeditated, and God allowed the victim to fall into the killer’s hand, then the killer can run away to a region I’ll designate specifically for that. But if anyone flagrantly schemes to kill someone, then you should ban that person from my altar so that he will die.
“Whoever assaults his mother or father should be executed.
“Whoever kidnaps someone else should be executed, regardless of whether the kidnapper kept or sold the victim.
“Whoever belittles his parents should be executed.
“If two people get into a fight and one hospitalizes the other but doesn’t kill him, then the attacker should compensate the victim for his medical bills and his time away from work.
“If someone beats his slave with a club, and the slave dies, he should be avenged. But if the slaves survives, then he shouldn’t be avenged, because the slave is his owner’s property.
“If someone hits a pregnant woman and causes her to give birth prematurely but the baby is healthy, then the father is allowed to press charges. The offender will have to pay whatever amount the judges decide. But if the baby is harmed, then you should charge the offender with the penalty of a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, scar for scar, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
“If a slave owner hits his slave and damages his eye or knocks out his tooth, the owner should free the slave in exchange for the damage he inflicted.
“If an ox tramples someone to death, the ox should be killed with rocks and it’s meat shouldn’t be eaten. The ox’s owner will remain innocent. But if the ox had a history of aggression and its owner ignored previous warnings, then its owner should be executed. The ox’s owner should pay whatever amount the victim’s loved ones demand. If the ox kills someone’s son or daughter, the same thing should be done to the owner’s son or daughter. If the ox kills someone’s slave, the ox’s owner should pay the slave’s owner 11 ounces of silver and the ox should be killed with rocks.
“If someone digs a well and doesn’t cover it and someone’s animal falls into it, the well’s owner should buy the dead animal to compensate him for the loss.
“If one person’s ox injures someone else’s ox and kills it, then they should sell the living ox and split the money while also splitting the meat from the dead ox. But if living the living ox had a history of aggression yet its owner didn’t restrain it, then its owner should make amends by trading the live ox for the dead one.