Exodus 21:12-27

Common English Bible

Instructions about human violence

¹² Anyone who hits and kills someone should be put to death. ¹³ If the killing wasn’t on purpose but an accident allowed by God, then I will designate a place to which the killer can run away. ¹⁴ But if someone plots and kills another person on purpose, you should remove the killer from my altar and put him to death.

¹⁵ Anyone who violently hits their father or mother should be put to death.

¹⁶ Anyone who kidnaps a person, whether they have been sold or are still being held, should be put to death.

¹⁷ Anyone who curses their father or mother should be put to death.

¹⁸ When two people are fighting and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist so that he is in bed for a while but doesn’t die— ¹⁹ if he recovers and is able to walk around outside with a cane, then the one who hit him shouldn’t be punished, except to pay for the loss of time from work and to pay for his full recovery.

²⁰ When a slave owner hits a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner should be punished. ²¹ But if the slave gets up after a day or two, the slave owner shouldn’t be punished because the slave is the owner’s property.

²² When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but no other injury occurs, then the guilty party will be fined what the woman’s husband demands, as negotiated with the judges. ²³ If there is further injury, then you will give a life for a life, ²⁴ an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵ a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a wound for a wound.

²⁶ When a slave owner hits and blinds the eye of a male or female slave, he should let the slave go free on account of the eye. ²⁷ If he knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, he should let the slave go free on account of the tooth.