Exodus 21:2

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Exodus 21:1–4 · Berean Standard Bible

1 “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:

2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

3 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.

4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Exodus 12:44

But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.

Exodus 22:3

But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.

Genesis 27:28

May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth— an abundance of grain and new wine.

Genesis 27:36

So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

Leviticus 25:39

If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.

Leviticus 25:40

Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:41

Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.

Leviticus 25:44

Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

2 Kings 4:1

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”

Nehemiah 5:1

About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.

Nehemiah 5:2

Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”

Nehemiah 5:3

Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.”

Nehemiah 5:4

Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

Nehemiah 5:5

We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

Nehemiah 5:8

and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.

Matthew 18:25

Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.

1 Corinthians 6:20

you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

Leviticus 25:42

Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

Leviticus 25:43

You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

Leviticus 25:45

You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

Deuteronomy 15:1

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

Deuteronomy 15:12

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

Deuteronomy 15:13

And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

Deuteronomy 15:14

You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 15:15

Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

Deuteronomy 15:18

Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

Deuteronomy 31:10

Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,

Jeremiah 34:8

After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD

Jeremiah 34:9

that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.

Jeremiah 34:10

So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,

Jeremiah 34:11

but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.

Jeremiah 34:12

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Jeremiah 34:13

“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:

Jeremiah 34:14

Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.

Jeremiah 34:15

Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.

Jeremiah 34:16

But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

Jeremiah 34:17

Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.