Sinai & The Law

However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.

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.

But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life—

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

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.

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 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.

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.

If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

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 to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

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.

“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.

But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.

If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.

If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and allows them to stray so that they graze in someone else’s field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard.

If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.

If a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double.

If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.

In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.