Exodus 21:2-6

Laws About Slaves

2 i When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. 5 But j if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' 6 then his master shall bring him to k God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

  1. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 15:12
    If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
    Jeremiah 34:14
    At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.' But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.
    Leviticus 25:39 - 41
    If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave:
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 15:16 - 17
    But if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you.
  3. Cross References
    Psalms 82:6
    I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.
    John 10:34 - 35
    Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.