New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 These are the ordinances that you shall set before them:
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Now these are the laws which you are to put before them.
2 When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt.
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If you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment.
3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
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If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away 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 alone.
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If his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself.
5 But if the slave declares, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person,"
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But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:
6 then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
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Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.
7 When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
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And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.
8 If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her.
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If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her.
9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.
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And if he gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter.
10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.
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And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less.
11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.
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And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment.
12 Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death.
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He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death.
13 If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.
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But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.
14 But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.
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But if a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.
15 Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.
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Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.
16 Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.
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Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death, if you take him in the act.
17 Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.
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Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.
18 When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed,
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If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making him keep in bed;
19 but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery.
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If he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well.
20 When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished.
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If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment.
21 But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner's property.
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But, at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property.
22 When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman's husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.
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If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.
23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,
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But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
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Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
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Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow.
26 When a slaveowner strikes the eye of a male or female slave, destroying it, the owner shall let the slave go, a free person, to compensate for the eye.
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If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye.
27 If the owner knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, the slave shall be let go, a free person, to compensate for the tooth.
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Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account 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.
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If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.
29 If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not restrained it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
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But if the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death.
30 If a ransom is imposed on the owner, then the owner shall pay whatever is imposed for the redemption of the victim's life.
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If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed.
31 If it gores a boy or a girl, the owner shall be dealt with according to this same rule.
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If the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this rule.
32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall pay to the slaveowner thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
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If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.
33 If someone leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
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If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;
34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution, giving money to its owner, but keeping the dead animal.
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The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.
35 If someone's ox hurts the ox of another, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead animal they shall also divide.
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And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.
36 But if it was known that the ox was accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not restrained it, the owner shall restore ox for ox, but keep the dead animal.
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But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.