Leviticus 25:39-55 - Release Of Slaves

³⁹ ‘And if your fellow countryman becomes so poor [in his dealings] with you that he sells himself to you [as payment for a debt], you shall not let him do the work of a slave [who is ineligible for redemption], ⁴⁰ but he is to be with you as a hired man, as if he were a temporary resident; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee, ⁴¹ and then he shall leave you, he and his children with him, and shall go back to his own family and return to the property of his fathers. ⁴² For the Israelites are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in a slave sale. ⁴³ You shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression), but you are to fear your God [with profound reverence]. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ Moreover, from the children of the strangers who live as aliens among you, from them you may buy slaves and from their families who are with you, whom they have produced in your land; they may become your possession. ⁴⁶ You may even bequeath them as an inheritance to your children after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your fellow countrymen, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with harshness (severity, oppression).

⁴⁷ ‘Now if the financial means of a stranger or temporary resident among you become sufficient, and your fellow countryman becomes poor in comparison to him and sells himself to the stranger who is living among you or to the descendants of the stranger’s family, ⁴⁸ then after he is sold he shall have the right of redemption. One of his relatives may redeem him: ⁴⁹ either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ Then he [or his redeemer] shall calculate with his purchaser from the year when he sold himself to the purchaser to the Year of Jubilee, and the [original] price of his sale shall be adjusted according to the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be considered as that of a hired man. ⁵¹ If there are still many years [before the Year of Jubilee], in proportion to them he must refund [to the purchaser] part of the price of his sale for his redemption and release. ⁵² And if only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he shall so calculate it with him. He is to refund the proportionate amount for his release. ⁵³ Like a man hired year by year he shall deal with him; he shall not rule over him with harshness in your sight. ⁵⁴ Even if he is not redeemed during these years and under these provisions, then he shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For the children of Israel are My servants; My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

¹² “If your fellow Israelite, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you shall set him free [from your service]. ¹³ When you set him free, you shall not let him go away empty-handed. ¹⁴ You shall give him generous provisions from your flock, from your threshing floor and from your wine press; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. ¹⁵ And you shall remember and thoughtfully consider that you were [once] a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you these things today. ¹⁶ Now if the servant says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you; ¹⁷ then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall [willingly] be your servant always. Also you shall do the same for your maidservant. ¹⁸ “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has served you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.