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Exodus 21:2-6
Contemporary English Version
Exodus 21:2-6
Contemporary English Version
2 (A) If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him. 3 If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. 4 If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.
5 But suppose the slave loves his wife and children and his owner so much that he won't leave them. 6 Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship,[a] while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 21.6 at the place of worship: The Hebrew text has “in the presence of God,” which probably refers to the place where God was worshiped.
Exodus 21:2-6
New International Version
Exodus 21:2-6
New International Version
Hebrew Servants(A)(B)
2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant,(C) he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free,(D) without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go 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.
5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’(E) 6 then his master must take him before the judges.[a](F) He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce(G) his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.(H)
Footnotes
- Exodus 21:6 Or before God
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
Contemporary English Version
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
Contemporary English Version
Setting Slaves Free
(Exodus 21.1-11)
Moses said to Israel:
12 (A) If any of you buy Israelites as slaves, you must set them free after six years. 13 And don't just tell them they are free to leave— 14 give them sheep and goats and a good supply of grain and wine. The more the Lord has given you, the more you should give them. 15 I am commanding you to obey the Lord as a reminder that you were slaves in Egypt before he set you free. 16 But one of your slaves may say, “I love you and your family, and I would be better off staying with you, so please don't make me leave.” 17 Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women.
18 Don't complain when you have to set a slave free. After all, you got six years of service at half the cost of hiring someone to do the work.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 15.18 six years … work: Or “six years of service, and it cost you no more than if you had hired someone to do the work”; or “six years of service, for what you would have had to pay a worker for two years.”
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
New International Version
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
New International Version
Freeing Servants(A)(B)
12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.(C) 13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor(D) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves(E) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.(F) That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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