Day 111 of 365

¹"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.

²"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.

³If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴If 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 by himself.

⁵But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;'

⁶then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

⁷"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.

⁸If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her.

⁹If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

¹⁰If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.

¹¹If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

¹²"One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,

¹³but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.

¹⁴If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

¹⁵"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.

¹⁶"Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸"If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed;

¹⁹if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.

²⁰"If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

²¹Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.

²²"If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.

²³But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,

²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.

²⁶"If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.

²⁷If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

²⁸"If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.

²⁹But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.

³⁰If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.

³¹Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.

³²If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.

³⁵"If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.

³⁶Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.

¹"If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it, or sells it; he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

²If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

³If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt of bloodshed for him; he shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

⁴If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.

⁵"If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and lets his animal loose, and it grazes in another man's field, [he shall make restitution from his own field according to his produce; and if he shall have grazed over the whole field,] he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.

⁶"If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

⁷"If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

⁸If the thief isn't found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn't put his hand to his neighbor's goods.

⁹For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, 'This is mine,' the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰"If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it;

¹¹the oath of the Lord shall be between them both, whether he hasn't put his hand to his neighbor's goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.

¹²But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.

¹³If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn.

¹⁴"If a man borrows anything of his neighbor's, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution.

¹⁵If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.

¹⁶"If a man entices a virgin who isn't pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

¹⁷If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

¹⁸"You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁹"Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death.

²⁰"He who sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.

²¹"You shall not wrong a foreigner, neither shall you oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²²"You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.

²³If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;

²⁴and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

²⁵"If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you charge him interest.

²⁶If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down,

²⁷for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.

²⁸"You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹"You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. "You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me.

³⁰You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

³¹"You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.

¹"You shall not spread a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be an unjust witness.

²You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

³neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.

⁴"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

⁵If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

⁶"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

⁷"Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

⁸"You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

⁹"You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the heart of a foreigner, seeing you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,

¹¹but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

¹²"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

¹³"Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and do not invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.

¹⁴"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

¹⁵You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

¹⁶And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.

¹⁷Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁸"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.

¹⁹The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

²⁰"Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

²¹Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

²²But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

²⁴You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

²⁵You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.

²⁶No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

²⁸I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

²⁹I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

³⁰Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

³¹I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

³²You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

³³They 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 to you."

¹Praise Yah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.

²The Lord's works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.

³His work is honor and majesty. His righteousness endures forever.

⁴He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

⁵He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant.

⁶He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

⁷The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure.

⁸They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness.

⁹He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.