"When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. "When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. "When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth. "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
Exodus 21:20-32
Again, in these verses, it is the concern for the rights of slaves that is the chief lesson. It would be easy to miss this point if we allowed ourselves to be preoccupied with what we deemed harsh treatment meted out to them by masters (20, 26). The ancient world as a whole did not even recognise the possibility that injustice could be done to slaves, at all; they were simply possessions, chattels to be used or abused without giving much thought to the matter. The principle of justice expressed here is that of exact retaliation, life for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. In our reaction against the seeming harshness of this, we should remember that it was anciently instituted as a limit upon undue punishment and overmuch vengeance. It would be by no means uncommon for many lives to be taken for one, in a bitter and implacable spirit of revenge. A distinction may be intended between 20, 21 and 26, 27; in the first the reference seems to be to a merited chastisement that accidentally became over-severe, while the second seems to indicate an inexcusable assault, which forfeits the master's further right to own the slave. Fine shades of responsibility are drawn throughout in relation to cases that are different, as for example in 28, 29 when a man is gored to death by an ox. If the ox has not hitherto been dangerous, its owner is 'quit' when the beast is stoned and killed; but if he has already been warned that it is dangerous, and neglects to take proper safeguards, he is held fully responsible and must pay the penalty of death or, alternatively, whatever fine the relatives of the slain man require. Knowledge brings responsibility and culpability when that knowledge is neglected. For an obvious spiritual application of this principle, see Hebrews 2:1-3.