Hæc sunt judicia quæ propones eis.

And these laws, he said, thou shalt promulgate to them.

These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

Si emeris servum hebræum, sex annis serviet tibi: in septimo egredietur liber gratis.

If thou dost buy a slave that is a Hebrew by race, he shall do thee six years’ service, and in the seventh year, without any ransom paid, he shall go free.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee: in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

Cum quali veste intraverit, cum tali exeat: si habens uxorem, et uxor egredietur simul.

He shall leave thy service in the same guise in which he entered it; if he came to thee married, his wife shall go free with him.

With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him.

Sin autem dominus dederit illi uxorem, et pepererit filios et filias: mulier et liberi ejus erunt domini sui, ipse vero exibit cum vestitu suo.

But if his master has assigned a wife to him, and she has borne sons and daughters, this woman and her children shall belong to the master; the slave shall go free in the same guise as before.

But if his master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters: the woman and her children shall be her master’s: but he himself shall go out with his raiment.

Quod si dixerit servus: Diligo dominum meum et uxorem ac liberos; non egrediar liber:

It may be that the slave, for love of his master, and of his own wife and children, will refuse to take his leave;

And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free:

offeret eum dominus diis, et applicabitur ad ostium et postes, perforabitque aurem ejus subula: et erit ei servus in sæculum.

if so, his master shall bring him before the judgement-seat, and then fasten his ear with an auger to door or door-post, in token that the man is his slave in perpetuity.

His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant for ever.

Si quis vendiderit filiam suam in famulam, non egredietur sicut ancillæ exire consueverunt.

If anyone sells his daughter into a man’s service, she is not to go free on the same conditions as a slave.

If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out.

Si displicuerit oculis domini sui cui tradita fuerat, dimittet eam: populo autem alieno vendendi non habebit potestatem, si spreverit eam.

The master to whom she has been made over may send her away, if he has no liking for her, but he may not sell her to foreign masters; he has done her despite enough already.

If she displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise her.

Sin autem filio suo desponderit eam, juxta morem filiarum faciet illi.

He may betroth her, if he will, to his son; but if he does that, he must treat her as his daughter;

But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

Quod si alteram ei acceperit, providebit puellæ nuptias, et vestimenta, et pretium pudicitiæ non negabit.

and if he finds his son another wife instead, he must marry the girl off, and give her clothes, and make all amends for the loss of her virginity.

And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chastity.

Si tria ista non fecerit, egredietur gratis absque pecunia.

If he is not prepared to do these three things, then she must go free, with no ransom paid for her.

If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.

Qui percusserit hominem volens occidere, morte moriatur.

Whoever kills a man with intent to kill, must pay for it with his life.

He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death.

Qui autem non est insidiatus, sed Deus illum tradidit in manus ejus, constituam tibi locum in quem fugere debeat.

But where there was no malice aforethought, and God provides the occasion, he shall be allowed to find refuge in such place as I shall appoint for thee.

But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee.

Si quis per industriam occiderit proximum suum, et per insidias: ab altari meo evelles eum, ut moriatur.

One who lies in wait on purpose to kill his neighbour shall be torn away even from my altar to die.

If a man kill his neighbour on set purpose and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar, that he may die.

Qui percusserit patrem suum aut matrem, morte moriatur.

Death is the penalty for one who kills his father or his mother;

He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.

Qui furatus fuerit hominem, et vendiderit eum, convictus noxæ, morte moriatur.

death is the penalty when a man is shewn to have carried off his fellow-man and sold him;

He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of the guilt, shall be put to death.

Qui maledixerit patri suo, vel matri, morte moriatur.

death is the penalty for one who curses father or mother.

He that curseth his father, or mother, shall die the death.

Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit alter proximum suum lapide vel pugno, et ille mortuus non fuerit, sed jacuerit in lectulo:

Two fall out, and one is struck with a stone, or with the fist, not fatally, but so that he must take to his bed;

If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

si surrexerit, et ambulaverit foris super baculum suum, innocens erit qui percusserit, ita tamen ut operas ejus et impensas in medicos restituat.

must the man who struck the blow be held guilty? Only till the other is well enough to get up and walk abroad with a stick; but he must compensate him for his loss of work, and for the doctor’s charges.

If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon the physicians.

Qui percusserit servum suum, vel ancillam virga, et mortui fuerint in manibus ejus, criminis reus erit.

When a man beats his servant or his handmaid to death, if death follows at once, he must pay the full penalty;

He that striketh his bondman or bondwoman with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime.

Sin autem uno die vel duobus supervixerit, non subjacebit pœnæ, quia pecunia illius est.

but if they survive for a day or more, he shall go unpunished; the loss is his.

But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money.

Si rixati fuerint viri, et percusserit quis mulierem prægnantem, et abortivum quidem fecerit, sed ipsa vixerit: subjacebit damno quantum maritus mulieris expetierit, et arbitri judicaverint.

If men fall out, and one of them strikes a woman who is pregnant, so that the child is still-born, but she herself lives, he must pay whatever sum the woman’s husband demands, and the judges agree to;

If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman’s husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award.

Sin autem mors ejus fuerit subsecuta, reddet animam pro anima,

if her death follows, then life must pay for life.

But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life.

oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, manum pro manu, pedem pro pede,

So it is to be; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot;

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

adustionem pro adustione, vulnus pro vulnere, livorem pro livore.

burning for burning, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Si percusserit quispiam oculum servi sui aut ancillæ, et luscos eos fecerit, dimittet eos liberos pro oculo quem eruit.

If anyone gives servant or handmaid a blow on the eye, so that the sight of it is lost, he must set them free in return for the sight he robbed them of;

If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he put out.

Dentem quoque si excusserit servo vel ancillæ suæ, similiter dimittet eos liberos.

or if he knocks out a tooth, he must let servant or handmaid go free by the same title.

Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.

Si bos cornu percusserit virum aut mulierem, et mortui fuerint, lapidibus obruetur: et non comedentur carnes ejus, dominus quoque bovis innocens erit.

If an ox gores a man or woman to death, it shall be stoned, and the flesh of it is not to be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall be held innocent,

If an ox gore a man or a woman, and they die, he shall be stoned: and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

Quod si bos cornupeta fuerit ab heri et nudiustertius, et contestati sunt dominum ejus, nec recluserit eum, occideritque virum aut mulierem: et bos lapidibus obruetur, et dominum ejus occident.

unless the ox has been using its horns for some time past, and he has refused to shut it away when appeal was made to him. Then, if the ox gores man or woman, it shall be stoned, and he too shall be put to death,

But if the ox was wont to push with his horn yesterday and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

Quod si pretium fuerit ei impositum, dabit pro anima sua quidquid fuerit postulatus.

unless a fine is imposed on him instead; if so, he shall pay whatever ransom is demanded for his life.

And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

Filium quoque et filiam si cornu percusserit, simili sententiæ subjacebit.

The parents shall have the same claim upon him, whether it be a son or daughter of theirs the ox has gored;

If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence.

Si servum ancillamque invaserit, triginta siclos argenti domino dabit, bos vero lapidibus opprimetur.

if it has attacked man-servant or woman-servant, the owner must pay thirty silver pieces, and the ox must be stoned.

If he assault a bondman or bondwoman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

Si quis aperuerit cisternam, et foderit, et non operuerit eam, cecideritque bos aut asinus in eam,

If a man who has opened an old well, or is digging a new one, does not cover it up, and ox or ass falls into it,

If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it,

reddet dominus cisternæ pretium jumentorum: quod autem mortuum est, ipsius erit.

the owner of the well shall pay the full value of the beasts; the carcase he may keep for himself.

The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own.

Si bos alienus bovem alterius vulneraverit, et ille mortuus fuerit: vendent bovem vivum, et divident pretium, cadaver autem mortui inter se dispertient.

If one man’s ox is wounded by another’s, and dies of it, they shall sell the live ox and share the price of it, dividing the carcase of the dead ox between them;

If one man’s ox gore another man’s ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part between them:

Sin autem sciebat quod bos cornupeta esset ab heri et nudiustertius, et non custodivit eum dominus suus: reddet bovem pro bove, et cadaver integrum accipiet.

unless it has been known for some time past that the live ox was using its horns, and the owner has not kept it under control. If so, he shall restore ox for ox, and keep the whole carcase for himself.

But if he knew that his ox was wont to push yesterday and the day before, and his master did not keep him in: he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take the whole carcass.