'Slaves' in the Bible
he said:Canaan will be cursed.He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.
He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.
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.
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.
And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.
Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,
“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.
He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.
The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.
Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.
So he built an altar there, called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there.
On that same day Isaac’s slaves came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, “We have found water!”
And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.
I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’”
He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.”
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.
Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves.
He put the female slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
Then the female slaves and their children approached him and bowed down.
But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.”
If any of us is found to have it, he must die, and we also will become my lord’s slaves.”
“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
Why should we die here in front of you—both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we with our land will become Pharaoh’s slaves. Give us seed so that we can live and not die, and so that the land won’t become desolate.”
Joseph made all the people slaves from one end of Egypt's border to the other end of it.
And they said, “You have saved our lives. We have found favor in our lord’s eyes and will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant.
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.
“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.
All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you.
They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are My slaves that I brought out of the land of Egypt.
Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you; you may purchase male and female slaves.
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.
You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.
For the Israelites are My slaves. They are My slaves that I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.
I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.
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.
tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
You will rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the door. Then he will be your slave forever. You are to do the same for your female slaves.
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.
Remember to observe this because you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.
Remember to do this because you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I'm commanding you to do this."
The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
The leaders said to them, “Let them live [as our slaves].” So they became the cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the entire congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.
Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”
But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live among Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.
A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, "This is what the LORD says: "When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron
Philistines, be strong and be men, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews just as they have been slaves to you! Be men and fight!"
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}.
He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves shall be his servants.
Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.
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.)
But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”
So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath.
their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to completely destroy, from them Solomon levied (conscripted) forced laborers, even to this day (the date of this writing).
But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.
One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”
But Elisha questioned him, “Wasn’t my spirit there when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept money and clothes, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves?
But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to be slaves for his work; they were soldiers, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
Nevertheless, they will become his slaves so they may learn to differentiate between what it means to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of these nations."
Now you're intending to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. Surely you have your own sins against the LORD your God for which you're accountable, don't you?
not including their 7,337 male and female slaves, and their 200 male and female singers.
Though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us new life, so that we can rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
not including their 7,337 male and female slaves, as well as their 245 male and female singers.
Here we are today,slaves in the land You gave our ancestorsso that they could enjoy its fruit and its goodness.Here we are—slaves in it!
For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and extermination. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening 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.
“Others snatch the fatherless [infants] from the breast [to sell or make them slaves],And against the poor they take a pledge [of clothing].
“If I have despised the claim of my male or female slavesWhen they filed a complaint against me,
I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.
I have seen slaves on horses,but princes walking on the ground like slaves.
The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.
Indeed many nations and great kings will make slaves even of them, and I'll repay them according to their deeds, according to what they have done.'"
‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to grant their slaves their freedom.
so each man would free his male and female Hebrew slaves and no one would enslave his Judean brother.
All the officials and people who entered into covenant to free their male and female slaves—in order not to enslave them any longer—obeyed and freed them.
Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had freed and forced them to become 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 you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been freed to go wherever they wanted, and you have again subjugated them to be your slaves.
Slaves rule over us;no one rescues us from their hands.
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 merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your goods.
Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce; and My people will be secure on their land. Then they will know [with confidence] that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have rescued them from the hand of those who made them slaves.
Also, O Judah, there is a harvest [of divine judgment] appointed for you,When I restore the fortunes of My people [who have been slaves to the misery of sin].
I will even pour out My Spiriton the male and female slaves in those days.
And look, I will shake my fist over them, and they will become plunder for their former slaves. And you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent me."'"