39 ‘Now (A)if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. 40 He shall be with you as a hired worker, (B)as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee. 41 He shall then leave you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, so that he may return to the property of his forefathers. 42 For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 43 (C)You shall not rule over him with [a]severity, but are to revere your God.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:43 Or violence

12 (A)If your fellow countryman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him [a]free. 13 And when you set him [b]free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 You shall give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 And you are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding [c]this of you today. 16 But it shall come about, (B)if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you, 17 then you shall take an [d]awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant permanently. You shall also do the same to your female slave.

18 “It shall not seem difficult for you when you set him [e]free, because he has given you six years with double the [f]service of a hired worker; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 15:12 Lit free from you
  2. Deuteronomy 15:13 Lit free from you
  3. Deuteronomy 15:15 Lit this thing
  4. Deuteronomy 15:17 I.e., a pointed tool
  5. Deuteronomy 15:18 Lit free from you
  6. Deuteronomy 15:18 Lit wages

14 (A)At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who [a]has been sold to you and has served you for six years, and you shall send him out free from you.” But your forefathers (B)did not obey Me nor incline their ear to Me.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 34:14 Or has sold himself

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