Leviticus 25:39-55 - Release Of Slaves

³⁹ And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant. ⁴⁰ As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee: ⁴¹ then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. ⁴² For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. ⁴³ Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God. ⁴⁴ And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. ⁴⁵ Moreover of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land: and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶ And ye shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.

⁴⁷ And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxed rich, and thy brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or'sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; ⁴⁸ after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him; ⁴⁹ or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxed rich, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him. ⁵¹ If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back 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 reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption. ⁵³ As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight. ⁵⁴ And if he be not redeemed by these means , then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.

¹² If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. ¹³ And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty: ¹⁴ thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. ¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day. ¹⁶ And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee; ¹⁷ then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling hath he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.