'Slaves' in the Bible

And he said, "Cursed [be] Canaan, a slave of slaves he shall be to his brothers."

And Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male slaves and female slaves, and he gave [them] to Abraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him.

Now Yahweh has blessed my master exceedingly, and he has become great. He has given to him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

And the man became {exceedingly} rich and had large flocks, female slaves, male slaves, camels, and donkeys.

And I have acquired cattle, male donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.'"

And he put the female slaves and their children first, then Leah and her children next, then Rachel with Joseph last.

And the men were afraid when they were brought into the house of Joseph. And they said "We were brought [here] on account of the money that was returned to our sacks the first time, that he might attack us and fall upon us to take us as slaves with our donkeys."

Whoever is found with it from among your servants shall die. And moreover, we will become slaves to my lord."

And Judah said, "What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? Now how can we show ourselves innocent? God has found the guilt of your servants! Behold, we [are] slaves to my lord, both we and also he in whose hand the cup was found."

And Moses said to the people, "Remember this day when you went out from Egypt, from a house of slaves, because with strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from here, and [food with] yeast will not be eaten.

And when your son asks you {in the future}, saying, 'What [is] this?' you will say to him, 'With strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from a house of slaves.

"I [am] Yahweh, your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.

" 'And if a man sells his daughter as a slave woman, she will not go out as male slaves go out.

I [am] Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke, and I caused you to walk erectly.

Then you shall say to your child, 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand.

And you shall rejoice {before} Yahweh your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your slaves and your slave women and the Levite who [is] in your {towns}, because there is not for him a plot of ground and an inheritance with you.

And Yahweh shall bring you back [to] Egypt in ships by the route that I {promised} to you [that] '{You shall not see it again}!' And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

Therefore you [are] cursed; some of you will always be slaves as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."

He will take your male slaves and your female slaves and the best of your young men and your donkeys and {will use them for his projects}.

You shall till the land for him, you and your sons and your servants; you shall bring [in the produce] and it shall be food for the son of your master that he may eat. But Mephibosheth the son of your master may always eat food at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.)

It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Your slaves [are] here in Gath."

So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go [with you] as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? [Is] it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves?

So now, you yourselves plan to subdue people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves and female servants for yourselves. {Is there not also guilt on your part} against Yahweh your God?

For we are slaves and in our bondage our God did not forsake us, and he has extended to us loyal love in the presence of the kings of Persia, to give to us deliverance [and] to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem.

Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. {We are powerless}, and our fields and vineyards [belong] to others."

besides their servants and female slaves--these were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. And the male and female singers were two hundred and forty-five,

Behold, we are slaves to this day, and the land that you have given to our ancestors to eat its fruits and [enjoy] its goodness--behold, we are slaves in it!

I and my people have been sold to be destroyed and killed, to be annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves I would have kept quiet, because this is not a need sufficient to trouble the king."

Then his livestock came to be seven thousand sheep and goats and three thousand camels and five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred female donkeys, and he had very many slaves, and that man was greater than all the people of the east.

I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children [born in my] house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem.

I have even seen slaves [riding] on horses and princes walking like slaves on the earth!

And [the] nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will take possession of them in the land of Yahweh as slaves and female slaves. And this will happen: they will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors.

But {afterward} they turned back and they brought back the [male] slaves and the female slaves whom they had let go free, and they subdued them as [male] slaves and female slaves.

"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'I {made} a covenant with your ancestors on the day of my bringing them out from the land of Egypt, from [the] house of slaves, {saying},

But you turned back and you profaned my name when you brought back each one his [male] slave and each one his female slave, whom you had let go free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be to you as [male] slaves and as female slaves.'

Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand.

And also on the male slaves and on the female slaves, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

So the slaves of the master of the house came [and] said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have darnel?'

And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' So the slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go [and] gather them?'

"For this [reason] the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

But that slave went out [and] found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and taking hold of him, he began to choke [him], saying, 'Pay back everything that you owe!'

So [when] his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed, and went [and] reported to their master everything that had happened.

And when the season of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.

And the tenant farmers seized his slaves, [one of] whom they beat, and [one of] whom they killed, and [one of] whom they stoned.

Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first [ones], and they did the same [thing] to them.

And he sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the wedding celebration, and they did not want to come.

Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened [cattle] have been slaughtered, and everything [is] ready. Come to the wedding celebration!" '

And the others, seizing his slaves, mistreated [them] and killed [them].

Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding celebration is ready, but those who had been invited were not worthy.

And those slaves went out into the roads [and] gathered everyone whom they found, both evil and good, and the wedding celebration was filled {with dinner guests}.

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household slaves to give them their food at the right time?

and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards,

For [it is] like a man going on a journey. He summoned his own slaves and handed over his property to them.

Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

It is like a man away on a journey, who left his house and gave his slaves authority--to each one his work--and to the doorkeeper he gave orders that he should be on the alert.

And [while] Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the female slaves of the high priest came up

Blessed [are] those slaves whom the master will find on the alert [when he] returns! Truly I say to you that he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table and will come by [and] serve them.

But if that slave should say {to himself}, 'My master is taking a long time to return,' and he begins to beat the male slaves and the female slaves and to eat and drink and get drunk,

But [his] father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put [it] on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on [his] feet!

And he summoned one of the slaves [and] asked what these [things] meant.

Thus you also, when you have done all the {things you were ordered to do}, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done what we were obligated to do.'"

And summoning ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business {until I come back}.'

And it happened that when he returned [after] receiving the kingdom, he ordered these slaves to whom he had given the money to be summoned to him, so that he could know what they had gained by trading.

Now [as] he was going down, his slaves met him, saying that his child was alive.

No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you.

(Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. And Peter was also standing there with them and warming himself.)

One of the slaves of the high priest, who was related to the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"

And even on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

And now, Lord, concern yourself with their threats and grant your slaves to speak your message with all boldness,

and the nation {that} they will serve as slaves, I will judge,' God said, 'and after these [things] they will come out and will worship me in this place.'

And when the angel who spoke to him departed, he summoned two of the household slaves and a devout soldier from those who attended him,

She followed Paul and us [and] was crying out, saying, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!"

Do you not know that to whomever you present yourselves [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whomever you obey, whether sin, [leading] to death, or obedience, [leading] to righteousness?

But thanks [be] to God that you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted,

(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you presented your members [as] slaves to immorality and lawlessness, [leading] to lawlessness, so now present your members [as] slaves to righteousness, [leading] to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with respect to righteousness.

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free [persons], and all were made to drink one Spirit.

For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus [as] Lord, and ourselves [as] your slaves for the sake of Jesus.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ,

not {while being watched}, as people pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart,

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.

Slaves, obey your {human} masters in everything, not {while being watched}, as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Masters, grant your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

All those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, lest the name of God and the teaching be slandered.

Slaves must be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not to talk back,

[Live] as free [persons], and not using your freedom as a covering for evil, but as slaves of God.

Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those [who are] good and gentle, but also to those [who are] unjust.

promising them freedom [although they] themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also enslaved.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves [the things] which must take place in a short time, and communicated [it] [by] sending [it] through his angel to his slave John,

But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

And to each one of them a white robe was given, and it was said to them that they should rest yet a short time, until [the number of] their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they [had been] were completed also.

saying, "Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads."

But in the days of the sound of the seventh angel, whenever he is about to blow the trumpet, then the mystery of God is completed, as he announced to his own slaves the prophets."

And the nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the saints and to the ones who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

and cinnamon and amomum and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine wheat flour and wheat and domesticated animals and sheep and horses and carriages and {slaves} and human lives.

because his judgments [are] true and righteous, because he has passed judgment on the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his slaves {shed by} her hand!"

And a voice came out from the throne, saying, "Praise our God all his slaves, and those who fear him, the small and the great!"