Homicide, Kidnapping, Injury, and Enslaved Bodies

Killing, kidnapping, and the difference of intent

Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. If he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, a place of flight is appointed. The one who comes presumptuously to slay with guile is taken from the altar to die. Striking father or mother, cursing father or mother, and stealing a man to sell him or hold him are capital cases.

Kidnapping into slavery is named as a death-worthy crime in the same block that will still treat some enslaved people as property. The tension is in the text; it should stay in the explanation.

Injury, a pregnant woman, and enslaved bodies

If men fight and one is bedridden but later walks with a staff, the striker pays for lost time and for thorough healing. If a man strikes a male or female servant with a rod and death is immediate, he shall be punished; if the servant continues a day or two, the master is not punished, 'for he is his money.'

Harm to a pregnant woman that makes her fruit depart, with or without further mischief, is assessed by the husband and judges, then by life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth—the lex talionis that limits retaliation to measured equivalence. If a master destroys a servant's eye or tooth, the servant goes free for the eye's or tooth's sake.

Even the release-for-injury rule still treats the enslaved person as someone whose lost body part buys exit rather than as a full equal. Prenatal harm, parent-striking, and 'he is his money' cannot be turned into modern slogans without doing more violence.