Part 47 (1/2)

20:19. Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.

20:20. And Moses said to the people: Fear not; for G.o.d is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.

20:21. And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein G.o.d was.

20:22. And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

20:23. You shall not make G.o.ds of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves G.o.ds of gold.

20:24. You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee.

20:25. And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.

20:26. Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.

Exodus Chapter 21

Laws relating to Justice.

21:1. These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

21:2. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee; in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

21:3. 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.

21:4. 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.

21:5. And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free:

21:6. His master shall bring him to the G.o.ds, 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.

To the G.o.ds... Elohim. That is, to the judges, or magistrates, authorized by G.o.d.

21:7. If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out.

21:8. 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.

21:9. But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

21:10. And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chast.i.ty.

21:11. If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.

21:12. He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death.

21:13. But he that did not lie in wait for him, but G.o.d delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee.

21:14. 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.

21:15. He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death.