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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://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 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></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="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</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"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/exodus/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Laws About Slaves</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When you buy a Hebrew slave,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or servant; the Hebrew term 'ebed designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see Preface)">a</a></sup></span> he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>If she does not please her master, who has designated her<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or so that he has not designated her">b</a></sup></span> for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>“Whoever curses<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or dishonors; Septuagint reviles">c</a></sup></span> his father or his mother shall be put to death.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>“When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But if there is harm,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or so that her children come out and it is clear who was to blame, he shall be fined as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he alone shall pay. 23If it is unclear who was to blame...">d</a></sup></span> then you shall pay life for life, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams">e</a></sup></span> of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.</p> <p class="heading">Laws About Restitution</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>“When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>“When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/21-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> Or <i>servant</i>; the Hebrew term <i class="catch-word">'ebed</i> designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see <a href="../">>Preface</a>)<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">8</span> Or <i>so that he has not designated her</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">17</span> Or <i>dishonors</i>; Septuagint <i>reviles</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">23</span> Or <i><span class="catch-word">so that her children come out</span> and it is clear who was to blame, he shall be fined as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he alone shall pay. <verse-num>23</verse-num>If it is unclear who was to blame...</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <span class="fnverse">32</span> A <i class="catch-word">shekel</i> was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams<br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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