Leviticus 25:39-55 - Release Of Slaves

³⁹ And when thy brother becomes poor, being with thee, and if he should sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰ As a hired servant and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he shall depart free from thy house, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he be restored. ⁴² For they belong to me, I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God. ⁴⁴ Both thy menslaves and thy maidslaves, which thou shalt have, shall be of the Gentiles that are round about you; of them shall ye buy slaves. ⁴⁵ Ye may also buy of the children of the strangers that live among you and of those of their lineage that are born in your land, who are with you, and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶ And ye shall possess them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit as a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever; but over your brethren, the sons of Israel, ye shall not rule over one another with rigor.

⁴⁷ And if a sojourner or stranger who is with thee becomes rich and thy brother who is with him becomes poor and sells himself unto the stranger or sojourner who is with thee or to the race of the lineage of the stranger, ⁴⁸ after he is sold he shall have redemption; one of his brethren shall redeem him; ⁴⁹ either his uncle or his uncle's son shall redeem him; or any that is near of kin unto him of his lineage shall redeem him; or if he is able, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him. ⁵¹ If there are yet many years, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. ⁵² And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption. ⁵³ And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him; and the other shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight. ⁵⁴ And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For the sons of Israel are mine; they are my slaves whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I AM your God.

¹² And if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold unto thee and serves thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt send him forth from thee free. ¹³ And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not send him away empty. ¹⁴ Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy threshing floor and out of thy winepress; of that with which the LORD thy God has blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. ¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God ransomed thee; therefore, I command thee this thing to day. ¹⁶ And it shall be, if he says unto thee, I will not go away from thee because he loves thee and thy house because he is well with thee, ¹⁷ then thou shalt take an aul and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy slave for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee, for he has served thee for half the cost of a hired servant for six years; and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.