1Giv Israels folk følgende forordninger:2Hvis du køber dig en hebræisk slave, må du kun beholde ham i seks år. I det syvende år skal han frigives uden betaling.3Hvis han kom til dig som ugift, men i mellemtiden har giftet sig, er det kun ham selv, der skal frigives. Men hvis han i forvejen var gift, skal hans kone frigives sammen med ham.4Hvis du har givet ham en kone i hans slavetid, og han og konen har fået børn, tilhører konen og børnene dig, men han selv skal frigives.5Men hvis slaven erklærer: ‚Jeg elsker min herre, min kone og mine børn, så jeg ønsker ikke at blive frigivet,’6så skal du overgive ham til Gud og stille ham op ad døren eller dørstolpen og gennembore hans øre med en syl, hvorefter han skal være din slave på livstid.7Hvis en mand derimod sælger sin datter som slave, skal hun ikke frigives efter de seks år sådan som en mandlig slave.8Men hvis hendes herre gifter sig med hende og senere ikke er tilfreds med hende, skal han give hende mulighed for at blive købt fri af sin far. Han har ikke lov til at sælge hende videre til andre.9Hvis han lader sin søn gifte sig med hende, skal han respektere hende som sin egen datter.10Hvis han selv senere tager sig en kone nummer to, må han ikke nægte sin slavekone mad, tøj og ægteskabelige rettigheder.11Opfylder han ikke disse krav, skal hun frigives uden betaling.
Personlig overlast
12Enhver, der begår drab, skal selv lide døden.13Men er det uagtsomt manddrab, vil jeg anvise steder, hvor en sådan person kan søge beskyttelse imod at blive dræbt som hævn.14Er det derimod overlagt mord, skal han lide døden, også selv om han søger beskyttelse ved Herrens alter.15Enhver, der angriber sin far eller mor, skal lide døden.16Enhver, der kidnapper en anden, skal dø, uanset om han har solgt sit offer eller beholdt ham.17Enhver, der forbander sin far eller mor, skal lide døden.18Hvis to mænd kommer op at slås, og den ene rammer den anden med en sten eller med en knytnæve og kvæster ham, så han må holde sengen,19og hvis det ikke er værre, end at han kan gå omkring, om nødvendigt støttet til sin stok, så skal gerningsmanden ikke straffes ud over at betale for offerets tabte arbejdsfortjeneste og i øvrigt afholde udgifterne til medicin og lægehjælp.20Hvis en mand slår sin mandlige eller kvindelige slave så hårdt med en kæp, at vedkommende dør, skal han straffes.21Men hvis slaven kommer sig efter en dag eller to, skal slavens herre ikke straffes, for den tabte arbejdsfortjeneste er straf i sig selv.22Hvis to mænd under et slagsmål kommer til at støde til en gravid kvinde, så barnet bliver født, men der ellers ikke sker noget, skal den skyldige betale erstatning, efter hvad kvindens mand forlanger, og domstolene kan godkende.23Hvis en person gør en anden fortræd, skal han straffes i forhold til den skade, han har forvoldt: liv for liv,24øje for øje, tand for tand, hånd for hånd, fod for fod,25brandsår for brandsår, læsion for læsion, skramme for skramme.26Hvis en mand slår sin mandlige eller kvindelige slave i øjet, så øjet bliver ødelagt, skal han frigive slaven som erstatning for øjet.27Hvis en mand slår en tand ud på sin mandlige eller kvindelige slave, skal han frigive slaven som erstatning for tanden.28Hvis en tyr stanger en mand eller kvinde ihjel, skal den stenes, og dens kød må ikke spises, men tyrens ejer skal ikke straffes for ulykken.29Men hvis den samme tyr tidligere har stanget nogen, og ejeren er blevet advaret, men ikke har taget nogen forholdsregler, og den så stanger nogen ihjel, skal den stenes og ejeren skal lide døden.30Dog kan han beholde livet, hvis den dødes slægtninge vil gå med til at acceptere en løsesum som erstatning.31Samme lov gælder, hvis tyren stanger en dreng eller en pige,32men hvis den stanger en mandlig eller kvindelig slave, skal slavens herre have en erstatning på 30 sølvstykker, og tyren skal stenes.33Hvis en mand tager dækslet af en cisterne eller graver en brønd og ikke dækker hullet til, og en ko eller et æsel falder i brønden,34skal han betale fuld erstatning for det døde dyr, men så tilhører det også ham.35Hvis en mands tyr stanger en anden mands tyr ihjel, skal de to ejere sælge den levende tyr og dele pengene imellem sig, og de skal også deles om den døde tyr.36Men hvis det er kendt, at tyren før har villet stange, og ejeren ikke har taget nogen forholdsregler, skal han betale fuld erstatning for den døde tyr, som så bliver hans ejendom.
1“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. (2.Mos 24,3; 5.Mos 4,14; 5.Mos 6,1)2When you buy a Hebrew slave,[1] he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. (3.Mos 25,39; 5.Mos 15,12; Jer 34,14)3If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.4If 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 alone.5But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ (5.Mos 15,16)6then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. (Salm 82,6; Joh 10,34)7“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. (Neh 5,5)8If she does not please her master, who has designated her[2] for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.9If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. (1.Kor 7,5)11And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.12“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. (1.Mos 9,6; 3.Mos 24,17; 4.Mos 35,30; Matt 26,52)13But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. (4.Mos 35,11; 4.Mos 35,22; 5.Mos 4,41; 5.Mos 19,2; 5.Mos 19,4; Josva 20,2)14But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. (1.Kong 2,28)15“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.16“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. (2.Mos 22,4; 5.Mos 24,7; 1.Tim 1,10)17“Whoever curses[3] his father or his mother shall be put to death. (3.Mos 20,9; 5.Mos 27,16; Ord 20,20; Ord 30,11; Matt 15,4; Mark 7,10)18“When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed,19then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.20“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.21But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. (3.Mos 25,45)22“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. (5.Mos 22,18; Job 31,11)23But if there is harm,[4] then you shall pay life for life, (5.Mos 19,21)24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (3.Mos 24,20; 5.Mos 19,21; Matt 5,38)25burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.26“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.27If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.28“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. (1.Mos 9,5)29But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.30If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. (2.Mos 21,22; 2.Mos 30,12; 4.Mos 35,31)31If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.32If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels[5] of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. (2.Mos 21,28; Zak 11,12; Matt 26,15)
Laws About Restitution
33“When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,34the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.35“When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.36Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.