Exodus 21:2-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 (A)When you purchase a Hebrew slave,[a] he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall leave as a free person without any payment. 3 If he comes into service alone, he shall leave alone; if he comes with a wife, his wife shall leave with him. 4 But if his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children belong to her master and the man shall leave alone.
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- 21:2 Slave: an Israelite could become a slave of another Israelite as a means of paying a debt, or an Israelite could be born into slavery due to a parent’s status as a slave. Here a time limit is prescribed for such slavery; other stipulations (vv. 20–21, 26–27) tried to reduce the evils of slavery, but slavery itself is not condemned in the Old Testament.
Leviticus 25:39
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
39 [a]When your kindred with you, having been so reduced to poverty, sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves.(A)
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- 25:39–43 Here the individual Israelite has no assets and must become indentured to another Israelite for economic survival. No provision is given for redemption before the jubilee year, though such is probably allowed.
Leviticus 25:46
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
46 and bequeath to your children as their hereditary possession forever. You may treat them as slaves. But none of you shall lord it harshly over any of your fellow Israelites.(A)
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Deuteronomy 15:12-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Hebrew Slaves. 12 (A)If your kin, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself or herself to you, he or she is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall release him or her as a free person. 13 (B)When you release a male from your service, as a free person, you shall not send him away empty-handed, 14 but shall weigh him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press; as the Lord, your God, has blessed you, so you shall give to him. 15 For remember that you too were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.(C)
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