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39 “If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves.(A) 40 They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children with them shall go out from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property.(B) 42 For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. 43 You shall not rule over them with harshness but shall fear your God.(C) 44 As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. 45 You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you and from their families who are with you who have been born in your land; they may be your property.(D) 46 You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness.(E)

47 “If resident aliens among you prosper, and if any of your kin fall into difficulty with one of them and sell themselves to an alien or to a branch of the alien’s family, 48 even after they have sold themselves they shall have the right of redemption; one of their brothers may redeem them,(F) 49 or their uncle or their uncle’s son may redeem them, or anyone of their family who is of their own flesh may redeem them, or if they prosper they may redeem themselves.(G) 50 They shall compute with the purchaser the total from the year when they sold themselves to the alien until the Jubilee year; the price of the sale shall be applied to the number of years: the time they were with the owner shall be rated as the time of a hired laborer.(H) 51 If many years remain, they shall pay for their redemption in proportion to the purchase price,(I) 52 and if few years remain until the Jubilee year, they shall compute thus: according to the years involved they shall make payment for their redemption. 53 As a laborer hired by the year they shall be under the alien’s authority, who shall not, however, rule with harshness over them in your sight. 54 And if they have not been redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children with them shall go out in the Jubilee year. 55 For to me the Israelites are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

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39 (A)“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 (B)Then he shall go out from you, (C)he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return (D)to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are (E)my servants,[a] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 (F)You shall not rule over him (G)ruthlessly but (H)shall fear your God. 44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45 (I)You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel (J)you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Redeeming a Poor Man

47 “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and (K)your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin may (L)redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he (M)grows rich he may redeem himself. 50 He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be (N)rated as the time of a hired worker. 51 If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. 52 If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. 53 He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. (O)He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then (P)he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. 55 For it is (Q)to me that the people of Israel are servants.[b] They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:42 Hebrew slaves
  2. Leviticus 25:55 Or slaves