21 Now these are the ordinances you [Moses] shall set before [the Israelites].

² If you buy a Hebrew servant [as the result of debt or theft], he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, paying nothing.^(A)

³ If he came [to you] by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he came married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴ If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out [of your service] alone.

⁵ But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go free,

⁶ Then his master shall bring him to God [the judges as His agents]; he shall bring him to the door or doorpost and shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.

⁷ If a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant or bondwoman, she shall not go out [in six years] as menservants do.

⁸ If she does not please her master who has not espoused her to himself, he shall let her be redeemed. To sell her to a foreign people he shall have no power, for he has dealt faithlessly with her.

⁹ And if he espouses her to his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

¹⁰ If he marries again, her food, clothing, and privilege as a wife shall he not diminish.

¹¹ And if he does not do these three things for her, then shall she go out free, without payment of money.

¹² Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

¹³ But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God allowed him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee [for protection until duly tried].^(B)

¹⁴ But if a man comes willfully upon another to slay him craftily, you shall take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], that he may die.

¹⁵ Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶ Whoever kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or is found with him in his possession, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷ Whoever curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ If men quarrel and one strikes another with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but keeps his bed,

¹⁹ If he rises again and walks about leaning upon his staff, then he that struck him shall be clear, except he must pay for the loss of his time and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰ And if a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod and he [or she] dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

²¹ But if the servant lives on for a day or two, the offender shall not be punished, for he [has injured] his own property.

²² If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman [interfering] is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows, [the one who hurt her] shall surely be punished with a fine [paid] to the woman’s husband, as much as the judges determine.

²³ But if any damage follows, then you shall give life for life,

²⁴ Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵ Burn for burn, wound for wound, and lash for lash.

²⁶ And if a man hits the eye of his servant or the eye of his maid so that it is destroyed, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

²⁷ And if he knocks out his manservant’s tooth or his maidservant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

²⁸ If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be clear.

²⁹ But if the ox has tried to gore before, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it closed in and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also put to death.

³⁰ If a ransom is put on [the man’s] life, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid upon him.

³¹ If the [man’s ox] has gored another’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

³² If the ox gores a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³ If a man leaves a pit open or digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴ The owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to the animal’s owner, but the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵ If one man’s ox hurts another’s so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; the dead ox also they shall divide between them.

³⁶ Or if it is known that the ox has gored in the past, and its owner has not kept it closed in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

22 If a man steals an ox or sheep and kills or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep.

² If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood shed for him.

³ But if the sun has risen [so he can be seen], blood must be shed for slaying him. The thief [if he lives] must make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

⁴ If the beast which he stole is found in his possession alive, whether it is ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.

⁵ If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution of the best of his own field or his own vineyard.

⁶ If fire breaks out and catches so that the stacked grain or standing grain or the field be consumed, he who kindled the fire shall make full restitution.

⁷ If a man delivers to his neighbor money or goods to keep and it is stolen out of the neighbor’s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

⁸ But if the thief is not found, the house owner shall appear before God [the judges as His agents] to find whether he stole his neighbor’s goods.

⁹ For every unlawful deed, whether it concerns ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any lost thing at all, which another identifies as his, the cause of both parties shall come before God [the judges]. Whomever [they] shall condemn shall pay his neighbor double.

¹⁰ If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep and it dies or is hurt or driven away, no man seeing it,

¹¹ Then an oath before the Lord shall be required between the two that the man has not taken his neighbor’s property; and the owner of it shall accept his word and not require him to make good the loss.

¹² But if it is stolen when in his care, he shall make restitution to its owner.

¹³ If it be torn in pieces [by some wild beast or by accident], let him bring [the mangled carcass] for witness; he shall not make good what was torn.

¹⁴ And if a man borrows anything of his neighbor and it gets hurt or dies without its owner being with it, the borrower shall make full restitution.

¹⁵ But if the owner is with it [when the damage is done], the borrower shall not make it good. If it is a hired thing, the damage is included in its hire.

¹⁶ If a man seduces a virgin not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to become his wife.

¹⁷ If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equivalent to the dowry of virgins.

¹⁸ You shall not allow a woman to live who practices sorcery.

¹⁹ Whoever lies carnally with a beast shall surely be put to death.

²⁰ He who sacrifices to any god but the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed.

²¹ You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²² You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

²³ If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;

²⁴ And My wrath shall burn; I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵ If you lend money to any of My people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, neither shall you require interest from him.

²⁶ If you ever take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall give it back to him before the sun goes down;

²⁷ For that is his only covering, his clothing for his body. In what shall he sleep? When he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious and merciful.

²⁸ You shall not revile God [the judges as His agents] or esteem lightly or curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹ You shall not delay to bring to Me from the fullness [of your harvested grain] and the outflow [of your grape juice and olive oil]; give Me the firstborn of your sons [or redeem them].^(A)

³⁰ Likewise shall you do with your oxen and your sheep. Seven days the firstborn [beast] shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹ And you shall be holy men [consecrated] to Me; therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

4 Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

² And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.^(A)

³ And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [^[a]loaves of] bread.

⁴ But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.^(B)

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on ^[b]a turret (pinnacle, ^[c]gable) of the temple ^[d]sanctuary.^(C)

⁶ And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.^(D)

⁷ Jesus said to him, ^[e]On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, ^[f]test thoroughly, or ^[g]try exceedingly the Lord your God.^(E)

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.

⁹ And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.^(F)

¹¹ Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested and put in prison, He withdrew into Galilee.

¹³ And leaving Nazareth, He went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali—

¹⁴ That what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be brought to pass:

¹⁵ The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the ^[h]way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles [of the ^[i]peoples who are not of Israel]—^(G)

¹⁶ The people who sat ^[j](dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, ^[k]crying out, Repent (^[l]change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

¹⁸ As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, throwing a dragnet into the sea, for they were fishermen.

¹⁹ And He said to them, Come ^[m]after Me [as disciples—letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!

²⁰ At once they left their nets and ^[n]became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

²¹ And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right; and He called them.

²² At once they left the boat and their father and ^[o]joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

²³ And He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness and infirmity among the people.

²⁴ So the report of Him spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all who were sick, those afflicted with various diseases and torments, those under the power of demons, and epileptics, and paralyzed people, and He healed them.

²⁵ And great crowds joined and accompanied Him about, coming from Galilee and Decapolis [the district of the ten cities east of the Sea of Galilee] and Jerusalem and Judea and from the other [the east] side of the Jordan.