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Today's Bible Reading :: Exodus 19 - 21 (ESV)

Exodus 19Listen to the passage

Exodus 20Listen to the passage

Exodus 21Listen to the passage

Exodus 19

Israel at Mount Sinai

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:1

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:1 - On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:2

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:2 - They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:3

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:3 - while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:4

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:4 - ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:5

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:5 - Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:6

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:6 - and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:7

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:7 - So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:8

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:8 - All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:9

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:9 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:10

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:10 - the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:11

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:11 - and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:12

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:12 - And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:13

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:13 - No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;[fn] whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:14

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:14 - So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:15

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:15 - And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:16

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:16 - On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:17

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:17 - Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:18

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:18 - Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:19

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:19 - And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:20

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:20 - The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:21

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:21 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:22

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:22 - Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:23

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:23 - And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:24

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:24 - And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 19:25

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 19:25 - So Moses went down to the people and told them.
ESV Footnotes
That is, shot with an arrow

Exodus 20

The Ten Commandments

(Deu 5:1–22 )

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:1

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:1 - And God spoke all these words, saying,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:2

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:2 - “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:3

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:3 - “You shall have no other gods before[fn] me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:4

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:4 - “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:5

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:5 - You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:6

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:6 - but showing steadfast love to thousands[fn] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:7

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:7 - “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:8

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:8 - “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:9

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:9 - Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:10

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:10 - but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:11

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:11 - For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:12

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:12 - “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:13

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:13 - “You shall not murder.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:14

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:15

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:15 - “You shall not steal.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:16

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:16 - “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:17

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:17 - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:18

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:18 - Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid[fn] and trembled, and they stood far off

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:19

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:19 - and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:20

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:20 - Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:21

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:21 - The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Laws About Altars

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:22

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:22 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:23

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:23 - You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:24

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:24 - An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:25

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:25 - If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 20:26

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 20:26 - And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
ESV Footnotes
Or besides
Or to the thousandth generation
The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence
Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text the people saw

Exodus 21

Laws About Slaves

(Deu 15:12–18 )

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:1

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:1 - “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:2

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:2 - When you buy a Hebrew slave,[fn] he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:3

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:3 - If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:4

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:4 - If 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 alone.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:5

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:5 - But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:6

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:6 - then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:7

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:7 - “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:8

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:8 - If she does not please her master, who has designated her[fn] for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:9

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:9 - If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:10

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:10 - If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:11

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:11 - And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:12

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:12 - “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:13

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:13 - But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:14

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:14 - But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:15

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:15 - “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:16

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:16 - “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:17

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:17 - “Whoever curses[fn] his father or his mother shall be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:18

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:18 - “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:19

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:19 - then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:20

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:20 - “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:21

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:21 - But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:22

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:22 - “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:23

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:23 - But if there is harm,[fn] then you shall pay life for life,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:24

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:24 - eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:25

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:25 - burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:26

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:26 - “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:27

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:27 - If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:28

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:28 - “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:29

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:29 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:30

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:30 - If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:31

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:31 - If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:32

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:32 - If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels[fn] of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Laws About Restitution

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:33

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:33 - “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:34

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:34 - the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:35

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:35 - “When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.

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Unchecked Copy Box Exo 21:36

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 21:36 - Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.
See the ESV Preface
ESV Footnotes
Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see Preface)
Or so that he has not designated her
Or dishonors; Septuagint reviles
Or so that her children come out and it is clear who was to blame, he shall be fined as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he alone shall pay. 23If it is unclear who was to blame
A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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