Leviticus 25:39-55 - Release Of Slaves

³⁹ And if thy brother grow poor beside thee, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: ⁴⁰ as a hired servant, as a sojourner, shall he be with thee; until the year of jubilee shall he serve thee. ⁴¹ Then shall he depart 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 bondmen, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as men sell bondmen. ⁴³ Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; and thou shalt fear thy God. ⁴⁴ And as for thy bondman and thy handmaid whom thou shalt have of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and handmaids. ⁴⁵ Moreover of the children of them that dwell as sojourners with you, of them may ye buy, and of their family that is with you, which they beget in your land, and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶ And ye shall leave them as an inheritance to your children after you, to inherit them as a possession: these may ye make your bondmen for ever; but as for your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule over one another with rigour.

⁴⁷ And if a stranger or sojourner become wealthy beside thee, and thy brother beside him grow poor, and sell himself unto the stranger, who is settled by thee, or to a scion of the stranger's family, ⁴⁸ after that he is sold there shall be right of redemption for him; one of his brethren may redeem him. ⁴⁹ Either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or one of his next relations of his family may redeem him; or if his means be sufficient, 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 the years, according to the days of a hired servant shall he be with him. ⁵¹ If there are yet many years, according unto them shall he return his redemption money 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 remaining years of service shall he give him back his redemption money. ⁵³ As a hired servant shall he be with him year by year; his master shall not rule with rigour over him before thine eyes. ⁵⁴ And if he be not redeemed in this manner, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For the children of Israel are servants unto me; 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, have been sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. ¹³ And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty; ¹⁴ thou shalt certainly furnish him from thy sheep, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of what Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee with shalt thou give unto him. ¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that 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 away 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 and into the door; and he shall be thy bondman for ever. And also unto thy handmaid thou shalt do likewise. ¹⁸ Let it not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for double the worth of a hired servant hath he been to thee, in serving thee six years; and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.