Daily Bread

Personal Injuries

¹² “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.^{(A) 13} However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place^(B) I will designate. ¹⁴ But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately,^(C) that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.^(D)

¹⁵ “Anyone who attacks^[a] their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death,^(E) whether the victim has been sold^(F) or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷ “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.^(G)

¹⁸ “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist^[b] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹ the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰ “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ²¹ but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.^(H)

²² “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely^[c] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands^(I) and the court allows. ²³ But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,^{(J) 24} eye for eye, tooth for tooth,^(K) hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

²⁶ “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. ²⁷ And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸ “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death,^(L) and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. ²⁹ If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up^(M) and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. ³⁰ However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded.^{(N) 31} This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. ³² If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels^[d](O) of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

³³ “If anyone uncovers a pit^(P) or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

³⁵ “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. ³⁶ However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up,^(Q) the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.