Hebrew Servants
(Deuteronomy 15:12–18)
“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them: Deu 4:14Deu 6:20Exo 24:3-41Ki 6:121Th 4:12Ch 19:10Deu 4:45Deu 4:5
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. Deu 15:12-15Deu 15:18Exo 12:44Deu 15:1Deu 31:10Exo 22:3Jer 34:8-17Lev 25:39-45 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. Deu 15:12-14 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.
But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ 2Co 5:14-15Deu 15:16-17Isa 26:13 then his master is to bring him before the judges. 1 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. Deu 15:17Lev 25:401Sa 28:2Deu 19:17-181Ki 12:71Sa 1:221Sa 27:121Sa 8:1-2
And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. Neh 5:5Exo 21:2-3 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, 2 he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her. Deu 20:7Deu 21:11-14Exo 8:29Gen 28:8Jdg 14:3Jdg 9:19Mal 2:11-151Sa 18:8 And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife. 1Co 7:1-6 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
Personal Injury Laws
Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death. Gen 9:6Lev 24:17Mat 26:52Num 35:30-31Num 35:16-242Sa 12:13Deu 19:11-13Exo 20:13 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. Jos 20:2-91Sa 24:181Sa 24:101Sa 24:4Deu 19:1-13Deu 4:41-43Num 35:10-342Sa 16:10
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. 1Ki 2:28-34Heb 10:261Ki 1:50-512Ki 11:152Pe 2:102Sa 20:9-102Sa 3:27Deu 1:43
Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death. 1Ti 1:9Deu 21:18-21Deu 27:24Pro 30:11Pro 30:17
Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession. Deu 24:71Ti 1:10Exo 22:4Gen 37:28Gen 40:15Rev 18:12
Anyone who curses 3his father or mother must surely be put to death. 4 Pro 20:20Mrk 7:10-11Deu 27:16Mat 15:3-6Lev 20:9-10Pro 30:11Pro 30:17
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, Exo 21:202Sa 14:6Deu 25:11Exo 2:13Exo 21:22Num 35:16-24 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. 2Sa 3:29Zec 8:4
If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished. Deu 19:21Pro 29:19Exo 21:26-27Gen 4:15Gen 4:24Gen 9:6Isa 58:3-4Num 35:19 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property. Lev 25:44-46
If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, 5 but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows. Deu 22:18-19Exo 21:30Deu 16:18 But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life— Deu 19:21Num 35:31Lev 24:19 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 6 hand for hand, foot for foot, Deu 19:21Mat 7:2Mat 5:38-40Lev 24:19-20Jdg 1:6-7Luk 6:38Rev 16:61Sa 15:33 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. Col 4:1Deu 16:19Eph 6:9Exo 21:20Job 31:13-15Neh 5:5Pro 22:22-23Psa 10:14 And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
If an ox 7gores 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. Exo 21:32Gen 9:5-6Lev 20:15-16
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. Deu 21:1-9 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him. Exo 21:22Exo 30:12Num 35:31-33Pro 13:8
If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver 8to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned. Mat 26:15Zec 11:12-13Mat 27:3-9Exo 21:28-29Gen 37:28Php 2:7
If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, Ecc 10:8Jer 18:20Jer 18:22Pro 28:10Psa 119:85Psa 9:15 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his. Exo 21:29-30Exo 22:14Exo 22:6
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. 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.