Hebrew Servants (Deuteronomy 15:12–18)
1 UDB "Here are some other instructions to give to the Israelite people. BSB BSB: “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
3 UDB If he was not married before he became your slave, and if he marries someone while he is your slave, his wife is not to be set free with him. But if he was married before he became your slave, you must free both him and his wife. BSB BSB: If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.
4 UDB If the master of a slave gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters while her husband is a slave, only the man is to be freed. His wife and children will continue to be slaves of their master. BSB BSB: If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
5 UDB But when it is time for the slave to be set free, if the slave says, 'I love my master and my wife and my children, and I do not want to be set free,' BSB BSB: But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’
6 UDB then his master must take him to the place where they worship God. There he must make the slave stand against the door or the doorpost. Then the master will use an awl to make a hole in the slave's ear and fasten something to the slave's ear to show that he will own that slave for the rest of his life. BSB BSB: then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.
7 UDB If a man sells his daughter to become a slave, she should not be set free after six years as the male slaves are. BSB BSB: And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
8 UDB If the man who bought her wanted her to be his concubine, but if later he is not pleased with her, he must sell her back to her father. He must not sell her to a foreigner, because that would be breaking the contract he made with the girl's father. BSB BSB: If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.
9 UDB If the man who buys her wants her to be a wife for his son, he must then treat her as though she were his own daughter. BSB BSB: And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter.
10 UDB If the master takes another slave girl to be another woman for himself, he must continue to give the first slave concubine the same amount of food and clothing that he gave to her before, and he must continue to sleep with her as before. BSB BSB: If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
11 UDB If he does not do these three things for her, he must free her from being a slave, and she is not required to pay anything for being set free. BSB BSB: If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
Personal Injury Laws 12 UDB If someone hits a man in order to kill him and the man dies, then that person should also be put to death. BSB BSB: Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
13 UDB But if the one who hit the other did not mean to kill that person, the one who hit him can go to a place that I will choose for you, and he will be safe there. BSB BSB: If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
14 UDB But if someone gets angry with another person and kills him on purpose, even if the murderer runs to the altar, you must kill him. BSB BSB: But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
15 UDB Anyone who strikes his father or mother must be killed. BSB BSB: Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
17 UDB Anyone who curses or insults his father or his mother must be killed. BSB BSB: Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
18 UDB Suppose two people fight, and one hits the other with a stone or his fist. Suppose the person he strikes does not die but is injured and has to stay in bed for a while, BSB BSB: If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
19 UDB but later he is able to walk outside using a cane. Then they must not punish the person who hit him, except that they must make him pay the injured person the money he could not earn while he was recovering as well as the costs for healing. BSB BSB: then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed.
20 UDB If someone hits his male or female slave with a stick, and if the slave dies, then the one who struck him must be punished. BSB BSB: If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 UDB But if the slave lives for a day or two after he is hit and then dies, you must not punish the one who hit him. Not having that slave to be able to work for him any longer is enough punishment. BSB BSB: However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.
22 UDB If two people are fighting and they hurt a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but the woman is not harmed in any other way, the one who hurt her must pay a fine. He must pay whatever the woman's husband asks after a judge approves of the fine. BSB BSB: If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
24 UDB If her eye is hurt, or if he knocks out her teeth, or her hand or foot is hurt, BSB BSB: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 UDB or if she is burned or bruised, the one who hurt her must be hurt in the same way. BSB BSB: burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
27 UDB If someone knocks out one of his slave's teeth, he must free the slave because of what he did to the slave's tooth. BSB BSB: And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
28 UDB If a bull gores a man or woman with the result that the person dies, you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it, but do not eat it. The owner of the bull is not guilty. BSB BSB: If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.
29 UDB But if the bull had attacked people several times before and its owner had been warned, but he did not keep the bull inside a fence, and it gores a man or woman to death, then you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it, and you must also kill its owner. BSB BSB: But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.
30 UDB However, if the owner of the bull can pay a fine to save his own life, he must pay the full amount that the judges say that he must pay. BSB BSB: If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
31 UDB If someone's bull attacks and gores another person's son or daughter, you must treat the bull's owner according to that same rule. BSB BSB: If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
32 UDB If a bull attacks and gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay to the slave's owner thirty pieces of silver, and you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it. BSB BSB: If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.
33 UDB Suppose someone has a pit and does not keep it covered, and someone's bull or donkey falls into it and dies. BSB BSB: If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34 UDB Then the owner of the pit must pay for the animal that died. He must give the money to the animal's owner, but then he can take away the animal that died and do whatever he wants to with it. BSB BSB: the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
35 UDB If someone's bull hurts another person's bull so that it dies, the owners of both bulls must sell the bull that is living, and they must divide between them the money that they get for it. They must also divide between them the meat of the animal that died. BSB BSB: If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal.
36 UDB However, if people know that the bull often attacked other animals before, and its owner did not keep it inside a fence, then the owner of that bull must give the owner of the bull that died one of his own bulls, but he can take away the animal that died and do whatever he wants to with it." BSB BSB: But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.