'Slaves' in the Bible

So he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers."

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.

But the men were afraid when they were brought to Joseph's house. They said, "We are being brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks last time. He wants to capture us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys!"

If one of us has it, he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves!"

Judah replied, "What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has exposed the sin of your servants! We are now my lord's slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found."

Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed that we may live and not die. Then the land will not become desolate."

Joseph made all the people slaves from one end of Egypt's border to the other end of it.

They replied, "You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves."

Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, "Here we are; we are your slaves."

"'As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you -- you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.

Also you may buy slaves from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright.

but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.

Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

you must say to them, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way.

You shall rejoice before him -- you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you -- in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.

You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.

If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this.

Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.

Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us to restore the temple of our God and to raise up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

"So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy its good things -- we are slaves!

For we have been sold -- both I and my people -- to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king."

I purchased male and female slaves, and I owned slaves who were born in my house; I also possessed more livestock -- both herds and flocks -- than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem.

I have seen slaves on horseback and princes walking on foot like slaves.

For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation too. I will repay them for all they have done!'"

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to grant their slaves their freedom.

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.

All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.

But later they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again.

"The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. 'I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. It stipulated,

But then you turned right around and showed that you did not honor me. Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.

Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power.

So take note, I am about to make you slaves of the tribes of the east. They will make camps among you and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your clients; they exchanged slaves and bronze items for your merchandise.

"I am about to punish them in such a way," he says, "that they will be looted by their own slaves." Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

So the slaves of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?'

He said, 'An enemy has done this.' So the slaves replied, 'Do you want us to go and gather them?'

"For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe me!'

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place.

When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop.

But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.

He sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come.

Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet."'

The rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them.

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

And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

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

and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards,

"For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them.

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

It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves in charge, assigning to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert.

Blessed are those slaves whom their master finds alert when he returns! I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, have them take their place at the table, and will come and wait on them!

Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, blessed are those slaves!

But if that slave should say to himself, 'My master is delayed in returning,' and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

But the father said to his slaves, 'Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!

So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening.

So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, 'We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.'"

And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business with these until I come back.'

When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading.

While he was on his way down, his slaves met him and told him that his son was going to live.

"We are descendants of Abraham," they replied, "and have never been anyone's slaves! How can you say, 'You will become free'?"

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

(Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)

One of the high priest's slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the orchard with him?"

But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' said God, 'and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.'

Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to,

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

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

You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.

For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.

For you put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly toward you, if someone strikes you in the face.

Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.

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

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching -- as people-pleasers -- but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

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

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching -- like those who are strictly people-pleasers -- but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent the name of God and Christian teaching from being discredited.

Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.

Slaves are to be subject to their own masters in everything, to do what is wanted and not talk back,

Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God's slaves.

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.

cinnamon, spice, incense, perfumed ointment, frankincense, wine, olive oil and costly flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and four-wheeled carriages, slaves and human lives.