21 “These are the laws^(A) you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants^(B)(C)

² “If you buy a Hebrew servant,^(D) he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free,^(E) without paying anything. ³ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴ If 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.

⁵ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’^{(F) 6} then his master must take him before the judges.^[a](G) He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce^(H) his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.^(I)

⁷ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,^[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.^{(J) 11} If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries

¹² “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.^{(K) 13} However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place^(L) I will designate. ¹⁴ But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately,^(M) that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.^(N)

¹⁵ “Anyone who attacks^[c] their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death,^(O) whether the victim has been sold^(P) or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷ “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.^(Q)

¹⁸ “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist^[d] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹ the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰ “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ²¹ but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.^(R)