Colossians 3:22
English Standard Version
22 Bondservants, obey (A)in everything those who are your earthly masters,[a] not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
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- Colossians 3:22 Or your masters according to the flesh
Exodus 21:1-11
English Standard Version
Laws About Slaves
21 “Now these are the (A)rules that you shall set before them. 2 (B)When you buy a Hebrew slave,[a] he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. 5 But (C)if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to (D)God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
7 “When a man (E)sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her[b] for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or (F)her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
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- Exodus 21:2 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see Preface)
- Exodus 21:8 Or so that he has not designated her
Exodus 21:16
English Standard Version
16 (A)“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found (B)in possession of him, shall be put to death.
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Exodus 21:26-27
English Standard Version
26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.
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Deuteronomy 23:15-16
English Standard Version
Miscellaneous Laws
15 (A)“You shall not give up to his master a slave[a] who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.
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- Deuteronomy 23:15 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
1 Corinthians 7:20-24
English Standard Version
20 (A)Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant[a] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is (B)a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is (C)a bondservant of Christ. 23 (D)You were bought with a price; (E)do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers,[b] (F)in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
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- 1 Corinthians 7:21 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; also verses 22 (twice), 23
- 1 Corinthians 7:24 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 29
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.