13 “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,(A)
    whether male or female,
    when they had a grievance against me,(B)

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Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair,(A) because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

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And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours(A) is in heaven, and there is no favoritism(B) with him.

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14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’[a](A) Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention(B) to me. 15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people.(C) You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.(D) 16 But now you have turned around(E) and profaned(F) my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you,(G) declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague(H) and famine.(I) I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 34:14 Deut. 15:12

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.(A) 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor(B) and are counting on it.(C) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.(D)

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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.

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46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

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43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly,(A) but fear your God.(B)

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26 “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

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20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.(A)

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