Laws for Servants

(Deuteronomy 15:12-18)

1Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

2If thou shalt buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall depart free for nothing. 3If he came in by himself, he shall depart by himself: if he was married, then his wife shall depart with him. 4If his master hath given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall depart by himself. 5And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not depart free: 6Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or to the door-post: and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

7And if a man shall sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not depart as the men-servants do. 8If she shall not please her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her to a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9And if he hath betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10If he shall take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish. 11And if he shall not perform these three to her, then shall she depart free without money.

Personal Injury Laws

12He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall be surely put to death. 13And if a man shall not lie in wait, but God shall deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. 14But if a man shall come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from my altar, that he may die.

15And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

16And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he shall be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

17And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

18And if men contend together, and one shall smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he shall not die, but keep his bed: 19If he shall rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

20And if a man shall smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he shall die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21Notwithstanding, if he shall continue a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his money.

22If men shall contend, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit shall depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23And if any mischief shall follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26And if a man shall smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it shall perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. 27And if he shall smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

28If an ox shall gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 29But if the ox was accustomed to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not restrained him, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 30If there shall be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatever is laid upon him. 31Whether he hath gored a son, or hath gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done to him. 32If the ox shall push a man-servant, or maid-servant; he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Laws about Restitution

33And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass shall fall into it; 34The owner of the pit shall make compensation, and give money to the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.

35And if one man's ox shall hurt another's that he shall die, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it, and the dead ox also they shall divide. 36Or if it shall be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not restrained him; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead shall be his own.