Exodus 21

All 36 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1These are the judgments you must present to them:
2. 2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he will serve you for 6 years. In the 7th year, he goes free without paying anything.
3. 3If he came in by himself, he shall leave by himself. If he was married when he came, his wife shall leave with him.
4. 4If his master gave him a wife and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and children belong to the master, and the servant must leave on his own.
5. 5But if the servant openly declares, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children — I don't want to go free,'
6. 6Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also take him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
7. 7If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not released the same way male servants are.
8. 8If she doesn't please the master who chose her for himself, he must allow her to be bought back. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he broke faith with her.
9. 9If he gives her to his son instead, he must treat her as his own daughter.
10. 10If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the first wife's food, clothing, or marital rights.
11. 11If he fails to provide these 3 things for her, she may leave free of charge, owing nothing.
12. 12Anyone who strikes and kills another person must be put to death.
13. 13But if a man did not lie in wait, and God delivers him into his hand, then I will appoint a place where he can flee.
14. 14But if someone deliberately plots to murder his neighbor, you must drag him away even from my altar to be executed.
15. 15Anyone who strikes his father or mother must be put to death.
16. 16Anyone who kidnaps someone — whether he sells the victim or is caught still holding him — must be put to death.
17. 17Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.
18. 18If 2 men get into a fight and one hits the other with a stone or his fist, and the injured man doesn't die but is stuck in bed,
19. 19If the injured man recovers and is able to walk around with a staff, the one who struck him will not be held guilty. However, he must compensate for the man's lost time and ensure he is fully healed.
20. 20If a man beats his male or female servant with a rod and the servant dies from the beating, the master must be punished.
21. 21But if the servant survives for a day or two, the master won't be punished, since the servant is his property.
22. 22If men are fighting and they injure a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, but no serious harm results, the one responsible must pay whatever fine the woman's husband demands, subject to the judges' approval.
23. 23But if there is serious harm, then the penalty is life for life,
24. 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25. 25Burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26. 26If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and destroys it, he must set the servant free as compensation for the eye.
27. 27If he knocks out his male or female servant's tooth, he must set the servant free as compensation for the tooth.
28. 28If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox is not held responsible.
29. 29However, if the bull had a history of goring and the owner was warned but still didn't keep it penned in, and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner must also be put to death.
30. 30If a ransom is demanded instead, the owner may save his life by paying whatever amount is required of him.
31. 31This same rule applies whether the bull gores someone's son or someone's daughter.
32. 32If the bull gores a male or female servant, the owner must pay 30 shekels of silver to the servant's master, and the bull must be stoned.
33. 33If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34. 34The owner of the pit must compensate the animal's owner with money, and the dead animal will belong to the pit owner.
35. 35If one man's bull injures another man's bull and it dies, they must sell the living bull and split the money equally. They must also split the dead animal.
36. 36But if it was known that the bull had a habit of goring and its owner didn't keep it penned in, the owner must pay bull for bull, and the dead animal becomes his."