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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Exodus 21 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/exodus/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Exodus 21</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/20.htm" title="Exodus 20">◄</a> Exodus 21 <a href="../exodus/22.htm" title="Exodus 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Hebrew Slaves</h3><h5 class="r">(<ref loc="DEU 15:12-18">Deuteronomy 15.12-18</ref>)</h5><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_1"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.1" class="v1_21_1">1</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> gave Moses the following laws for his people:</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_2"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.2" class="v1_21_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him. </span><span class="v1_21_3"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.3" class="v1_21_3">3</span>If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. </span><span class="v1_21_4"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.4" class="v1_21_4">4</span>If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_5"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.5" class="v1_21_5">5</span>But suppose the slave loves his wife and children and his owner so much that he won't leave them. </span><span class="v1_21_6"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.6" class="v1_21_6">6</span>Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship,<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.6!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_7"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.7" class="v1_21_7">7</span>A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. </span><span class="v1_21_8"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.8" class="v1_21_8">8</span>If she doesn't please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back.<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.8!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. </span><span class="v1_21_9"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.9" class="v1_21_9">9</span>If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_10"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.10" class="v1_21_10">10</span>If the man later marries another woman, he must continue to provide food and clothing for the one he bought and to treat her as a wife. </span><span class="v1_21_11"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.11" class="v1_21_11">11</span>If he fails to do any of these things, she must be given her freedom without paying for it.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Murder and Other Violent Crimes</h3><h5 class="sp">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_12"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.12" class="v1_21_12">12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Death is the punishment for murder. </span><span class="v1_21_13"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.13" class="v1_21_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside. </span><span class="v1_21_14"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.14" class="v1_21_14">14</span>If you plan in advance to murder someone, there's no escape, not even by holding on to my altar.<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.14!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> You will be dragged off and killed.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_15"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.15" class="v1_21_15">15</span>Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_16"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.16" class="v1_21_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_17"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.17" class="v1_21_17">17</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.17!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_18"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.18" class="v1_21_18">18</span>Suppose two of you are arguing, and you hit the other with either a rock or your fist, without causing a fatal injury. If the victim has to stay in bed, </span><span class="v1_21_19"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.19" class="v1_21_19">19</span>and later has to use a stick when walking outside, you must pay for the loss of time and do what you can to help until the injury is completely healed. That's your only responsibility.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_20"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.20" class="v1_21_20">20</span>Death is the punishment for beating to death any of your slaves. </span><span class="v1_21_21"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.21" class="v1_21_21">21</span>However, if the slave lives a few days after the beating, you are not to be punished. After all, you have already lost the services of that slave who was your property.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_22"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.22" class="v1_21_22">22</span>Suppose a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.22!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting. If she isn't badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve. </span><span class="v1_21_23"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.23" class="v1_21_23">23</span>But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life, </span><span class="v1_21_24"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.24" class="v1_21_24">24</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.21.24!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, </span><span class="v1_21_25"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.25" class="v1_21_25">25</span>burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_26"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.26" class="v1_21_26">26</span>If you hit one of your slaves and cause the loss of an eye, the slave must be set free. </span><span class="v1_21_27"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.27" class="v1_21_27">27</span>The same law applies if you knock out a slave's tooth—the slave goes free.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_28"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.28" class="v1_21_28">28</span>A bull that kills someone with its horns must be killed and its meat destroyed, but the owner of the bull isn't responsible for the death.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_29"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.29" class="v1_21_29">29</span>Suppose you own a bull that has been in the habit of attacking people, but you have refused to keep it fenced in. If that bull kills someone, both you and the bull must be put to death by stoning. </span><span class="v1_21_30"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.30" class="v1_21_30">30</span>However, you may save your own life by paying whatever fine is demanded. </span><span class="v1_21_31"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.31" class="v1_21_31">31</span>This same law applies if the bull gores someone's son or daughter. </span><span class="v1_21_32"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.32" class="v1_21_32">32</span>If the bull kills a slave, you must pay the slave owner 30 pieces of silver for the loss of the slave, and the bull must be killed by stoning.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_33"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.33" class="v1_21_33">33</span>Suppose someone's ox or donkey is killed by falling into an open pit that you dug or left uncovered on your property. </span><span class="v1_21_34"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.34" class="v1_21_34">34</span>You must pay for the dead animal, and it becomes yours.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_35"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.35" class="v1_21_35">35</span>If your bull kills someone else's, yours must be sold. Then the money from your bull and the meat from the dead bull must be divided equally between you and the other owner.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_21_36"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.21.36" class="v1_21_36">36</span>If you refuse to fence in a bull that is known to attack others, you must replace any animal it kills, but the dead animal will belong to you.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.6 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">at the place of worship: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew text has “in the presence of God,” which probably refers to the place where God was worshiped.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.8 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">bought back: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Either by her family or by another Israelite who wanted to marry her.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.14 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">altar: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">As a rule, anyone who ran to the altar was safe from the death penalty, until proven guilty.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.22 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">suffers a miscarriage: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “gives birth before her time.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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