^2 (A)If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (A)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(B)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[a]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(C)blessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15 (D)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.

¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^(A)a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

⁴⁴ But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have ^(A)circumcised him, then he may eat it.

Treacherous Treatment of Slaves

⁸ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim ^(A)liberty to them: ^9 (B)that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—^(C)that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage. ¹⁰ Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.

¹² Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a ^(D)covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ “At the end of ^(E)seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who ^[a]has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. ¹⁵ Then you ^[b]recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you ^(F)made a covenant before Me ^(G)in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Then you turned around and ^(H)profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. ^(I)Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord—^(J)‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to ^(K)trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁸ And I said to them, “According to our ability we have ^(A)redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say.

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

5 And there was a great ^(A)outcry of the people and their wives against their ^(B)Jewish brethren. ² For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

³ There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

⁴ There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. ⁵ Yet now ^(C)our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^(D)are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the ^(A)year of release, ^(B)at the Feast of Tabernacles,

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years^(A)

15 “At the end of ^(B)every seven years you shall grant a ^[a]release of debts.