'Slaves' in the Bible

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

The landowner’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this!’ he told them.“‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him.

For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.

When the grape harvest drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his fruit.

But the farmers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first group, and they did the same to them.

He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come.

Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them.

“Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?

and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,

“For it is just like a man going on a journey. He called his own slaves and turned over his possessions to them.

“After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

It is like a man on a journey, who left his house, gave authority to his slaves, gave each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to be alert.

And [while] Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the female slaves of the high priest came up

Those slaves the master will find alert when he comes will be blessed. I assure you: He will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.

If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, those slaves are blessed.

But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female slaves, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

“But the father told his slaves, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening.

No household slave can be the slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t be slaves to both God and money.”

In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’”

He called 10 of his slaves, gave them 10 minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’

“At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those slaves he had given the money to, so he could find out how much they had made in business.

While he was still going down, his slaves met him saying that his boy was alive.

They replied to him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, "You will be set free'?"

I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father.

Now the slaves and the temple police had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”

I will even pour out My Spiriton My male and female slaves in those days,and they will prophesy.

And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness,

However, some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (freed Jewish slaves), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and [the province of] Asia, rose up and questioned and argued with Stephen.

I will judge the nationthat they will serve as slaves, God said.After this, they will come outand worship Me in this place.

When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household slaves and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him.

As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the slaves of the Most High God.”

We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin.

For sin will no longer be a master over you, since you are not under Law [as slaves], but under [unmerited] grace [as recipients of God’s favor and mercy].

Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to,

And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.

You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face!

Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.

It was the same way with us. While we were children, we were slaves to the basic principles of the world.

However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.

Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.

Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus:To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.

Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.

Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

All who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters to be worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and His teaching will not be blasphemed.

Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.

Slaves are to be submissive to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back

After all, we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and misled. We were slaves to many kinds of lusts and pleasures, spending our days in malice and jealousy. We were despised, and we hated one another.

and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death.

As God’s slaves, live as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil.

Household slaves, submit with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel.

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.

The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John,

But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives My slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

So a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow slaves and their brothers, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people concealed themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains.

“Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”

But in the days of the sound of the seventh angel, whenever he is about to blow the trumpet, then the mystery of God is completed, as he announced to his own slaves the prophets."

And the nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the saints and to the ones who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

The second beast forces all people important and unimportant, rich and poor, free and slaves to be marked on their right hands or on their foreheads,

And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

because his judgments [are] true and righteous, because he has passed judgment on the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his slaves {shed by} her hand!"

And a voice came out from the throne, saying, "Praise our God all his slaves, and those who fear him, the small and the great!"

Eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of warriors, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, both unimportant and important."

And there will not be any curse [any] longer, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his slaves will serve him,

And he said to me, "These words [are] faithful and true, and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his slaves [the things] which must take place in a short time."