Exodus 20–22

1God spoke all these words, saying,

2“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3“You shall have no other gods before me.

4“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

6and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7“You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9You shall labor six days, and do all your work,

10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;

11for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

13“You shall not murder.

14“You shall not commit adultery.

15“You shall not steal.

16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

18All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.

19They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”

20Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”

21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.

22Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

23You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me.

24You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.

25If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.

26You shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.’

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.

3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is 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 by himself.

5But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’

6then 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.

8If 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.

9If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.

10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.

11If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

12“One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,

13but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.

14If 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;

19if 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.

21Notwithstanding, 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.

23But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,

24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25burning 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.

27If 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.

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.

29But 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.

30If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.

31Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.

32If 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,

34the 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.

36Or 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.

1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

2If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

3If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

4If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.

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

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

7“If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

8If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out whether or not he has put his hand on his neighbor’s goods.

9For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns 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 or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it;

11the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.

12But if it is stolen from him, the one who stole shall make restitution to its owner.

13If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn.

14“If a man borrows anything of his neighbor’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution.

15If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.

16“If a man entices a virgin who isn’t pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

17If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

18“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

19“Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death.

20“He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.

21“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

22“You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.

23If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;

24and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

25“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.

26If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down,

27for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.

28“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

29“You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. “You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me.

30You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

31“You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.