54 Bible Verses about slavery

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear, trembling, and sincerity, as when you obey the Messiah.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one 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 child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were "free" as far as righteousness was concerned.

For the slave who has been called to belong to the Lord is the Lord's free person. In the same way, the free person who has been called is the Messiah's slave.

Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you'd never see again. There you'll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female.

You household servants must submit yourselves to your masters out of respect, not only to those who are kind and fair, but also to those who are unjust.

The wealthy rule over the poor, and anyone who borrows is a slave to the lender.

And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

then his master is to bring him before the judges and he is to bring him to the door or to the doorpost. His master is to pierce his ear with an awl, and he is to serve him permanently.

"This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.

Don't ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I'm giving you these commands today.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

"As for your male and maid slaves who will be with you, you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations.

"When you acquire a Hebrew servant, he is to serve for six years, and in the seventh he is to go out a free man without paying anything.

"If a man strikes his male or female servant with a stick and he or she dies as a direct result, the master must be punished.

Now what I am saying is this: As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything.

Jesus answered them, "Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

"Is Israel a slave, or was he born a servant? Why then has he become plunder?

Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that bother you. Of course, if you have a chance to become free, take advantage of the opportunity.

It was the same way with us. While we were children, we were slaves to the basic principles of the world.

The slave does not remain in the household forever, but the son does remain forever.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Even though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he has extended gracious love to us in the presence of the kings of Persia, to grant us revival, to set up the Temple of our God, to repair its damage, and to give us a protective wall for Judah and Jerusalem.

because you know that everyone will receive a reward from the Lord for whatever good he has done, whether he is a slave or free.

"Don't hand over a slave who escaped from his master when he runs to you.

and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death.

Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be certain about this: Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that isn't theirs. They will be slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years.

But if the servant survives a day or two, the master is not to be punished because the servant is his property.

he said, "Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his relatives."

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and ransomed you from the house of slavery, sending Moses, Aaron, and Miriam into your presence.

The Messiah has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop putting yourselves under the yoke of slavery again.

Then Moses told the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, because the LORD brought you out from this place with a strong show of force. Moreover, nothing leavened is to be eaten.

Under a slave when he becomes a king, a fool when he is overfed,

Now the slave woman's son was conceived through human means, while the free woman's son was conceived through divine promise.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you will no longer be their slaves, since I've broken their oppressive yoke upon you to make you walk upright."

Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him.

be careful not to forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and slavery.

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery along with her children.

Is this not what we told you in Egypt, when we said, "Leave us alone!' and "Let us serve the Egyptians!'? Indeed, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

Live like free people, and do not use your freedom as an excuse for doing evil. Instead, be God's servants.

Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, "My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!"

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

You may give them as inherited property to your children after you, to own as properties in perpetuity. You may make bond slaves of them, but no one is to rule over his fellow Israeli with harshness.

If you pamper a servant from his childhood, later on he'll become ungrateful.

He doesn't praise the servant for doing what was commanded, does he?

No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

But if the servant, in fact, says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I won't go out a free man,'

And I have observed servants riding on horses, while princes walk on the ground like servants.