Exodus 22

1If someone steals an ox or a sheep and butchers it or sells it, the thief must replace the ox with five cattle and the sheep with four sheep.

2Suppose a thief is caught in the act of breaking in, and someone strikes him and he dies. Then there is no bloodguilt for his death. 3But if the sun is already up when it happens, the killing brings bloodguilt. The thief must repay in full; if he owns nothing, he is to be sold to make up for what he took. 4Should the animal he stole, whether an ox, a donkey or a sheep, still be alive and in his hands when it is found, he must repay double.

5Suppose someone turns animals out to graze a field or a vineyard, and lets them loose so that they feed in another person’s field. Then the best that their own field and vineyard produce must be used to repay the loss.

6Suppose a fire is lit, and it catches in the thorns and spreads, and stacked grain, grain still standing, or a whole field burns up. The person who lit the fire must pay in full for the loss.

7Suppose someone hands money or other things over to a neighbor to look after, and a thief takes them from that house. If the thief is found, he must repay twice the value. 8If the thief is not found, the owner of the house is to come before God and declare that he did not lay a hand on his neighbor’s goods. 9Whenever there is a charge of wrongdoing over an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a cloak or anything lost, and someone claims, ‘This is it,’ the two of them shall take their case to God. The one whom God condemns must repay their neighbor double.

10Suppose someone entrusts a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to a neighbor’s care, and it dies, is hurt or is carried off when no one is there to see. 11Then the two of them shall settle it with an oath of the LORD: the one who kept the animal swears to having taken none of the neighbor’s property. The owner must accept the oath, and nothing has to be paid back. 12But if the animal was actually stolen from the one keeping it, that person must repay its owner. 13If beasts tore it to pieces, the keeper is to bring what is left as evidence and owes nothing for the animal that was torn.

14Anyone who borrows a neighbor’s animal must make full repayment if it is hurt or dies while its owner is absent. 15But if the owner was present, there is no repayment. If the animal was rented, the owner’s loss is met by the rent.

16If a man talks a virgin who is not betrothed into lying with him, he must pay the price paid for a bride and take her as his wife. 17Should her father flatly refuse to let him marry her, the man must still weigh out silver equal to the price paid for a virgin bride.

18You shall not let a sorceress live.

19Death is the penalty for anyone who lies with an animal.

20Anyone who offers sacrifice to other gods, and not to the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction. 21Do no wrong to a foreigner living among you, and do not oppress anyone like that, because you yourselves lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. 22You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 23Should you afflict them, you can be sure that when they cry out to me, I will hear their cry, 24and my wrath will burn, and I will put you to death by the sword; your own wives will then be widows, and your children will have no fathers.

25When you lend money to my people, to a poor person living near you, do not deal with that person as a creditor would, and do not make them pay interest. 26Should you hold your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge for a debt, you must hand it back to its owner before sunset, 27for it is the only covering they have, the cloak that wraps their body. In what will they lie down to sleep? When that neighbor cries out to me, I will hear, because I am gracious.

28Do not speak contemptuously of God, and do not call down a curse on a leader of your people. 29Do not be slow to give from the abundance of your harvest or from what flows from your presses. Your firstborn sons you shall give to me. 30You are to do likewise with your oxen and your sheep: for seven days the firstborn remains with its mother, and on the eighth day you shall give it to me. 31You shall be holy people to me. Any meat torn by beasts out in the field is not for you to eat; it is to be thrown to the dogs.