9040. Verses 22-27 [And] when men brawl and inflict a blow on a pregnant woman, and her offspring come out, and no harm is done, [the one inflicting the blow] shall surely be fined, as the master of the woman ¹ imposes on him; and he shall pay in accordance with the judges. ² And if harm is done, you shall pay soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow. And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave, or the eye of his female slave, and destroys it, he shall send him away free for his eye. And if he strikes out the tooth of his male slave or the tooth of his female slave, he shall send him away free for his tooth.

'And when men brawl' means serious contention between truths. 'And inflict a blow on a pregnant woman' means injuring the good that is being formed out of truth. 'And her offspring come out' means if in spite of this it is made stronger in the natural. 'And no harm is done' means that thus no injury is caused there. '[The one inflicting the blow] shall surely be fined' means amendment. 'As the master of the woman imposes on him' means till it agrees with the truth that goes with the good. 'And he shall pay in accordance with the judges' means according to what is right. 'And if harm is done' means injury. 'You shall pay soul for soul' means the law of order that you shall do to your neighbour as you wish him to do to you, and therefore that it shall be done to you as you do to another, 'soul' meaning spiritual life. 'Eye for eye' means if anything [is injured by them] in the inner part of the understanding. 'Tooth for tooth' means if anything [is injured] in the outer part of the understanding. 'Hand for hand' means if anything of the power of spiritual truth [is injured]. 'Foot for foot' means if anything of the power of natural truth [is injured]. 'Burning for burning' means if anything of love and affection present in the inward part of the will [is injured]. 'Wound for wound' means if anything of love and affection present in the outward part of the will [is injured]. 'Blow for blow' means if anything of affection in the understanding is wiped out or injured. 'And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave' means if the internal man injures the truth of faith in the external or natural man. 'Or the eye of his female slave' means if he injures an affection for truth there. 'And destroys it' means so that it wipes it out. ³ 'He shall send him away free for the eye' means that it cannot serve the internal man any longer. 'And if he strikes out the tooth of his male slave or the tooth of his female slave' means if it destroys truth or the affection for it on the level of the senses. 'He shall send him away free for his tooth' means that it cannot serve the internal man any longer.

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