Study Desk

"You shall not covet [that is, selfishly desire and attempt to acquire] your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

"If you purchase a Hebrew servant [because of his debt or poverty], he shall serve six years, and in the seventh [year] he shall leave as a free man, paying nothing.

"If he came [to you] alone, he shall leave alone; if he came married, then his wife shall leave with him.

"If his master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave [your service] alone.

then his master shall bring him to God [that is, to the judges who act in God's name], then he shall bring him to the door or doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl (strong needle); and he shall serve him for life.

"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go free [after six years] as male servants do.

"If her master chooses her [as a wife] for his son, he shall act toward her as if she were legally his daughter.

"However, if he did not lie in wait [for him], but God allowed him to fall into his hand, then I will establish for you a place to which he may escape [for protection until duly tried].

"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.

"Whoever kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or is found with him in his possession, must be put to death.

"Whoever curses his father or his mother or treats them contemptuously must be put to death.

"If men quarrel and one strikes another with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,

if he gets up and walks around leaning on his cane, then the one who struck him shall be left [physically] unpunished; he must only pay for his loss of time [at work], and the costs [of treatment and recuperation] until he is thoroughly healed.

"If a man strikes his male or his female servant with a staff and the servant dies at his hand, he must be punished.

"If, however, the servant survives for a day or two, the offender shall not be punished, for the [injured] servant is his own property.

"If a man hits the eye of his male servant or female servant and it is destroyed, he must let the servant go free because of [the loss of] the eye.

"And if he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or female servant, he must let the servant go free because of [the loss of] the tooth.

"If a ransom is demanded of him [in return for his life], then he shall give whatever is demanded for the redemption of his life.

the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to the animal's owner, but the dead [animal] shall be his.

"Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, and its owner has not kept it confined, he must make restitution of ox for ox, and the dead [animal] shall be his.