The Law Concerning Servants^(A)

21 “Now these are the ^[a]judgments which you shall ^(B)set before them: ^2 (C)If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. ³ If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in 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 by himself. ^5 (D)But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to the ^(E)judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

⁷ “And if a man ^(F)sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. ⁸ If she ^[b]does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. ⁹ And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. ¹⁰ If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, ^(G)and her marriage rights. ¹¹ And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

The Law Concerning Violence

^12 (H)“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. ¹³ However, ^(I)if he did not lie in wait, but God ^(J)delivered him into his hand, then ^(K)I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

¹⁴ “But if a man acts with ^(L)premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, ^(M)you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.

¹⁵ “And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

^16 (N)“He who kidnaps a man and ^(O)sells him, or if he is ^(P)found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷ “And ^(Q)he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ “If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, ¹⁹ if he rises again and walks about outside ^(R)with his staff, then he who struck him shall be ^[c]acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰ “And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹ Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his ^(S)property.

Responsibility for Property

22 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall ^(A)restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. ² If the thief is found ^(B)breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be ^(C)no guilt for his bloodshed. ³ If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be ^(D)sold^[a] for his theft. ⁴ If the theft is certainly ^(E)found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall ^(F)restore double.

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

⁶ “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

⁷ “If a man ^(G)delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, ^(H)if the thief is found, he shall pay double. ⁸ If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the ^(I)judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor’s goods.

⁹ “For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the ^(J)cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. ¹⁰ If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, ¹¹ then an ^(K)oath of the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. ¹² But ^(L)if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. ¹³ If it is ^(M)torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn.

¹⁴ “And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. ¹⁵ If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good; if it was hired, it came for its hire.

Moral and Ceremonial Principles

^16 (N)“If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. ¹⁷ If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the ^(O)bride-price of virgins.

^18 (P)“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

^19 (Q)“Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

^20 (R)“He who sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

^21 (S)“You shall neither mistreat a ^[b]stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

^22 (T)“You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you afflict them in any way, and they ^(U)cry at all to Me, I will surely ^(V)hear their cry; ²⁴ and My ^(W)wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; ^(X)your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

^25 (Y)“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him ^(Z)interest. ^26 (AA)If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. ²⁷ For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am ^(AB)gracious.

^28 (AC)“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ^(AD)ruler of your people.

²⁹ “You shall not delay to offer ^(AE)the first of your ripe produce and your juices. ^(AF)The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. ^30 (AG)Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother ^(AH)seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹ “And you shall be ^(AI)holy men to Me: ^(AJ)you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Principles of Marriage

7 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:

^(A)It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ² Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ^3 (B)Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 (C)Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that ^(D)Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But I say this as a concession, ^(E)not as a commandment. ⁷ For ^(F)I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: ^(G)It is good for them if they remain even as I am; ⁹ but ^(H)if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Keep Your Marriage Vows

¹⁰ Now to the married I command, yet not I but the ^(I)Lord: ^(J)A wife is not to depart from her husband. ¹¹ But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise ^(K)your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us ^(L)to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will ^(M)save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Live as You Are Called

¹⁷ But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And ^(N)so I ^[a]ordain in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? ^(O)Let him not be circumcised. ^19 (P)Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but ^(Q)keeping the commandments of God is what matters.