- Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. If she please not her master who has betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed, not to sell her unto a strange nation; he shall have no power to do this, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her. And if he has betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
- He that smites a man so that he die shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him from my altar that he may die. And he that smites his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. And he that steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And if men quarrel together, and one smite another with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keeps to his bed, if he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be acquitted; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. And if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod and he die under his hand, he shall be surely put to death. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two and recover, he shall not be put to death, for he is his servant. If men quarrel and hurt a woman with child so that her fruit depart, and yet no mischief follow, he shall be surely punished according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. And if a man smite the eye of his servant or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth or his maidservant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
- If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox were accustomed to push with his horn in time past, and it has been testified to his owner, and he has not kept him in but that he has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and his owner also shall be put to death. If there is laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatever is laid upon him. Whether he has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good and give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his. And if one man’s ox hurts another’s that he die, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money of it, and the dead ox also they shall divide. Or if it is known that the ox has pushed in time past and his owner has not kept him in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead shall be his own.
- If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking up and is smitten that he die, there shall be no bloodshed imputed to him. If the sun is risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed imputed to him. For he should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double.
- If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another man’s field, of the best of his own field and of the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
- If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, let him pay double. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he has put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods. For all manner of trespass — for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challenges to be his — the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he has not put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof and he shall not make it good. And if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it is torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness and he shall not make good that which was torn. And if a man borrow anything of his neighbor, and it is hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof is with it, he shall not make it good; if it is a hired thing, it came for his hire.
- And if a man entice a virgin that is not betrothed and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.
- You shall not suffer a murderer to live.
- Whoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death.
- He that sacrifices unto any god save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
- You shall neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.
- If you lend money to any of my people that is poor by you, you shall not be to him as a usurer, neither shall you lay upon him usury.
- If you at all take your neighbor’s raiment to pledge, you shall deliver it unto him by when the sun goes down, for that is his covering only; it is his raiment for his skin. Wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass when he cries unto me that I will hear, for I am gracious.
- You shall not revile against God, nor curse the ruler of your people.
- You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe fruits and of your liquors. The first born of your sons shall you give unto me. Likewise shall you do with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with his mother, on the eighth day you shall give it me. And you shall be holy men unto me, neither shall you eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs.
- You shall not raise a false report. Put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
- You shall not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shall you speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment. Neither shall you countenance a wicked man in his cause.
- If you meet your enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the ass of him that hates you lying under his burden, and would refuse to help him, you shall surely help with him.
- You shall not wrest the judgment of your poor in his cause. Keep far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay not, for I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Also, you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- And six years you shall sow your land and shall gather in the fruits thereof, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive yard. Six days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.
- Three times you shall keep a feast unto me in the year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty), and the feast of harvest (the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field), and the feast of ingathering (in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field). Three times in the year, all your males shall appear before the Lord God. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in his mother’s milk.
- Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. But if you shall indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto your enemies and an adversary unto your adversaries. For my angel shall go before you and bring you in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works, but you shall utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. There shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in your land. The number of your days I will fulfill. I will send my fear before you, and will destroy all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs unto you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field multiply against you. By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you be increased and inherit the land. And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto you.
- And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord — you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel — and worship afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near. Neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord has said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.
- And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins. And half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet like a paved work of a sapphire stone, and like the body of Heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand. Also, they saw God and did eat and drink.
- And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone, and a law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them. And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. And Moses went up into the mount of God. And he said unto the elders, Wait here for us until we come again unto you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has any matters to do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abided upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mount. And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Chapter 13