54 Bible Verses about slavery

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.

And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

And God spoke to this effect--that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.

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 today.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you.

When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

"When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

"Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey?

Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)

In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

"You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.

But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Then Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.

a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."

Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Whoever pampers his servant from childhood will in the end find him his heir.

Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'

I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.