39 Bible Verses about Slavery, In Ot
Most Relevant Verses
When you come near unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it makes to you an answer of peace, and opens unto you, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall be subject unto you, and they shall serve you.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to yourself.
And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.
And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife.
And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
Both your male and female slaves, whom you shall have, shall be of the nations that are round about you; of them shall you buy male and female slaves. Also of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that are with you, whom they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.
And it came to pass, when Joseph came unto his brothers, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him; And they took him, and cast him into a 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 company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.read more.
And Judah said unto his brothers, What profit is it if we slay 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 and our flesh. And his brothers were content. Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be slaves.
If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten that he dies, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
And if your brother that dwells by you becomes poor, and is sold unto you; you shall not compel him to serve as a slave:
And if your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were those that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore let us get grain for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain, because of the famine.read more.
There were also those that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tax, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight of which was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them to work with saws, and with picks of iron, and with axes of iron, and made them toil at the brick kilns: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:read more.
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor.
And Joshua called for them, and he spoke unto them, saying, Why have you deceived us, saying, We are very far from you; when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
And they drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under forced labor.
And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.
And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel, Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, of those did Solomon conscript for forced labor unto this day.
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. If she please not her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her. And if he has betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.read more.
If he takes him another wife; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. And if he does not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest: that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates:
Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; there shall you bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow unto the LORD: And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he has no part nor inheritance with you.
And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no descendants: and, lo, one born in my house is my heir.
You shall not deliver unto his master the servant who has escaped from his master unto you:
And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him. 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 the LORD your God.
And if your brother that dwells by you becomes poor, and is sold unto you; you shall not compel him to serve as a slave: But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee: And then shall he depart from you, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:read more.
Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
And if your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty: You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress: of that with which the LORD your God has blessed you you shall give unto him.read more.
And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. And it shall be, if he say unto you, I will not go away from you; because he loves you and your house, because he fares well with you; Then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also unto your maidservant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto you, when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant to you, in serving you six years: and the LORD your God shall bless you in all that you do.
This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should enslave them, that is, a Jew his brother. Now when all the princes, and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should let his manservant, and everyone his maidservant, go free, that none should enslave them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.read more.
But afterward 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 the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus says the 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 let you go every man his brother, a Hebrew, who has been sold unto you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But you turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. Therefore thus says the LORD; You have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between its parts, The princes of Judah, and the princes 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 them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
And if a sojourner or stranger becomes rich near you, and your brother that dwells near him becomes poor, and sells himself unto the stranger or sojourner near you, or to a member of the stranger's family: After he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is near of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he is able, he may redeem himself.read more.
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 release shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him. If there be yet many years left, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption. And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.
And you shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your slaves forever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, you shall not rule one over another with harshness.
If the ox shall gore a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
And if your brother that dwells by you becomes poor, and is sold unto you; you shall not compel him to serve as a slave: But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee: And then shall he depart from you, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.read more.
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as slaves.
And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father cease caring for the donkeys, and become anxious for us. And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says comes surely to pass: now let us go there; perhaps he can show us our way that we should go. Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is gone from our sacks, 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 here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.) Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.
