Exodus 21:2

¹²If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty. ¹⁴You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. ¹⁵You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.

⁴⁴but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. The LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

³⁹“‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. ⁴²For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

⁴⁴“‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.

¹At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.

⁸I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.

³If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

¹⁰Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,

¹Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. ²For there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” ³There were also some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.” ⁴There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. ⁵Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, ^[+] we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

⁸The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Jew his brother. ¹⁰All the princes and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more. They obeyed and let them go, ¹¹but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

¹²Therefore the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ¹³“The LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: ¹⁴At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you. But your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. ¹⁵You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor. You had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name; ¹⁶but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’”

¹⁷Therefore the LORD says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says the LORD, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.