Exodus 21
Big idea: The ten words become case law, and the first case is about a slave. A people freshly out of slavery is told that a Hebrew servant serves six years and goes out free in the seventh, owing nothing — and if he loves his master and household and chooses to stay, the choice is marked in his own ear at the doorpost. Then the ordinances work through violence in ascending seriousness: murder distinguished from accident, the unique gravity of striking or cursing a parent, kidnapping, injuries in a brawl, and the famous measured-response formula — life for life, eye for eye — which sets a ceiling on vengeance rather than a floor. A whole section on a goring ox turns negligence into liability, and a slave killed by an ox is paid for at a fixed price.
Chapter 21 covers persons — freedom, violence, and liability for what you own. Chapter 22 moves to property and then, unexpectedly, to the people no property can protect: the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, and the poor man's coat.
21:1–11 — Six years, and the seventh free
These are the ordinances Moses is to set before them, and the first concerns a Hebrew servant: he serves six years and goes out free in the seventh, paying nothing. He leaves as he came — alone if he came alone, with his wife if he came married; but a wife given by the master, and her children, stay with the master. If the servant plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free, then his master brings him to God, to the door or doorpost, and pierces his ear with an awl — and he serves permanently. A daughter sold as a servant is treated differently: she does not go out as the male servants do, and if her master or his son marries her she must be dealt with as a daughter, with food, clothing and marital rights undiminished; if he fails in these three things, she goes free with no money paid.
1 “Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them: 2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 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 by himself. 5 But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. 7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. 8 If she doesn’t please her master, who has married 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 If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. 11 If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
21:12–27 — Life for life
One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death — but not if it was unintentional; God will appoint a place for him to flee to. Presumptuous, scheming murder gets no refuge, even at the altar. Attacking or cursing a father or mother is a capital offence, as is kidnapping and selling a person. If men quarrel and one is struck but recovers, the striker pays for lost time and full healing. If a man strikes his servant with a rod and the servant dies, he shall be punished; and if men fighting hurt a pregnant woman, the husband sets a fine — but if harm follows, you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. And a master who destroys his servant's eye or knocks out a tooth must let the servant go free for it.
12 “One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death, 13 but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. 14 If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. 15 “Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. 16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. 17 “Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed; 19 if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed. 20 “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property. 22 “If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow. 23 But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. 26 “If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. 27 If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.
21:28–36 — The ox that gores
If a bull gores someone to death, the bull is stoned and its meat not eaten, and the owner is not liable — unless the bull had a habit of goring and its owner had been warned and did not keep it in; then the bull is stoned and its owner put to death, or a ransom imposed and paid. The same rule applies whether the victim is a son or a daughter. If the bull gores a male or female servant, thirty shekels of silver go to their master and the bull is stoned. If a man leaves a pit uncovered and an animal falls in, he pays its owner and keeps the dead animal. And if one man's bull kills another's, they sell the live one and divide the price and the dead one — unless it was a known gorer, in which case the owner pays in full.
28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. 29 But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed. 31 Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32 If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 “If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. 35 “If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal. 36 Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).