39 Bible Verses about Slavery, In Ot
Most Relevant Verses
When thou draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. And it shall be, if it makes to thee an answer of peace, and opens to thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall become tributary to thee, and shall serve thee.
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the men, and take the goods to thyself.
And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones. And all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey.
And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden, and she waited on Naaman's wife.
And the sons of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shall have, from the nations that are round about you, ye shall buy bondmen and bondmaids from them. Moreover of the sons of the strangers who sojourn among you, ye shall buy from them, and from their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land, and they shall be your possession.
And it came to pass, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him, and they took him, and cast him into the pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.read more.
And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers hearkened to him. And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted Joseph up out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou know that thy servant feared LORD, and the creditor has come to take my two children to him to be bo
If the thief is found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him. [A thief] shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
And if thy brother becomes poor with thee, and sells himself to thee, thou shall not make him to serve as a bondman.
If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, and serves thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shall let him go free from thee.
Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. For there were who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain that we may eat and live. There were some also who said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain because of the dearth.read more.
There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our sons as their sons. And, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage [already]. Neither is it in our
If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her sons shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
And he who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations: he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of thy seed. He who is born in thy house, and he who is bought with thy money, must be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born [slave]? Why has he become a prey?
And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. And he took the crown of their king from off his head. And the weight of it was a talent of gold, and [in it were] precious stones. And it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceedingly much. And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And Dav
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. And they were grieved because of the sons of Israel. And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor.read more.
And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, with which they made them serve with rigor.
And Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be bondmen of you, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do task work.
And it came to pass, when Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to task work, and did not utterly drive them out.
As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a conscription of bondservants to this day.
And if a man sells his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. If she does not please her master, who has espoused her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no power to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. And if he espouses her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the manner of daughters.read more.
If he takes him another [wife], her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, he shall not diminish. And if he does not do these three things to her, then she shall go out for nothing, without money.
Six days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest, that thine ox and thy donkey may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the sojourner, may be refreshed.
Six days thou shall labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to LORD thy God. Thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates,
then it shall come to pass that to the place which LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, there ye shall bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offe And ye shall rejoice before LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite who is within your gates--inasmuch as he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
And Abram said, Behold, thou have given no seed to me. And, lo, a man born in my house is my heir.
Thou shall not deliver to his master a servant who is escaped from his master to thee.
And if he is not redeemed by these [means], then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his sons with him. For the sons of Israel are servants to me. They are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am LORD your God.
And if thy brother becomes poor with thee, and sells himself to thee, thou shall not make him to serve as a bondman. He shall be with thee as a hired servant, and as a sojourner. He shall serve with thee to the year of jubilee. Then he shall go out from thee, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers.
If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her sons shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my sons, I will not go out free,read more.
then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, and serves thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shall let him go free from thee. And when thou let him go free from thee, thou shall not let him go empty. Thou shall furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress. As LORD thy God has blessed thee thou shall give to him.read more.
And thou shall remember that thou were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and LORD thy God redeemed thee. Therefore I command thee this thing today. And it shall be, if he says to thee, I will not go out from thee, because he loves thee and thy house, because he is well with thee, then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also to thy maid-servant thou shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard to thee when thou let him go free from thee, for he has been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years. And LORD thy God will bless thee in all that thou do.
The word that came to Jeremiah from LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should make bondmen of them, [namely], of a Jew his brother. And all the rulers and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant, and everyone his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more. They obeyed, and letread more.
But 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. Therefore the word of LORD came to Jeremiah from LORD, saying, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to thee, and has served thee six years. Thou shall let him go free from thee. But your fathers hearkened not to me, nor inclined the And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor. And ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name. But ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return. And ye brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaid Therefore thus says LORD: Ye have not hearkened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says LORD--to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it, the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf, I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.
And if a stranger or sojourner with thee becomes rich, and thy brother becomes poor beside him, and sells himself to the stranger [or] sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family, he may be redeemed after he is sold. One of his brothers may redeem him. Or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him. Or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself.read more.
And he shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the year of jubilee. And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years. He shall be with him according to the time of a hire If there be yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him. He shall give back the price of his redemption according to his years. He shall be with him as a servant hired year by year. He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.
And ye shall make them an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession. Ye shall take them your bondmen forever, but over your brothers the sons of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.
If the ox gores a man-servant or a maid-servant, there shall be given to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
And if thy brother becomes poor with thee, and sells himself to thee, thou shall not make him to serve as a bondman. He shall be with thee as a hired servant, and as a sojourner. He shall serve with thee to the year of jubilee. Then he shall go out from thee, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers.read more.
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as bondmen.
When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, Come, and let us return, lest my father leave off caring for the donkeys, and be anxious for us. And he said to him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says comes surely to pass. Now let us go there, perhaps he can tell us concerning our journey on which we go. Then Saul said to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What have we?read more.
And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way. (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer, for he who is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.) Then Saul said to his servant, Well said. Come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was.
