Leviticus 25:39-55

Wycliffe Bible

³⁹ If thy brother compelled by poverty selleth himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him by servage of servants (thou shalt not make him thy slave),

⁴⁰ but he shall be as an hired man and (as) a tenant; till to the year of jubilee he shall work with thee (he shall work for thee until the Jubilee Year),

⁴¹ and afterward he shall go out with his free children, and he shall turn again to his kindred, and to the possession of his fathers. (and then he shall go out free with his children, and he shall return to his family, and to his inheritance from his fathers.)

⁴² For they be my servants, and I led them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold by the condition of servants; (For they be my slaves, and I led them out of Egypt; and they shall not be sold into human slavery;)

⁴³ torment thou not them by thy power, but dread thou thy Lord. (so do not thou torment him with thy power, but rather, fear thou thy God.)

⁴⁴ A servant and (a) handmaid be to you of [the] nations that be in your compass, and of [the] comelings the which be pilgrims with you, (For your slaves and your slave-girls, buy thou them from the nations that be all around you, and from the newcomers who be foreigners, or strangers, among you,)

⁴⁵ either they that be born of comelings in your land; ye shall have these (as) servants, and by right of heritage ye shall leave them to your after-comers, and ye shall wield them without end; (or they who be born to newcomers in your land; ye shall have them as your slaves, and by right of inheritance ye shall leave them to your after-comers, and so ye shall own them forever;)

⁴⁶ soothly oppress ye not by power your brethren, the sons of Israel. (but with your power, do not ye oppress your own brothers, the Israelites.)

⁴⁷ If the hand of a comeling or of a pilgrim waxeth strong at you, and thy brother is made poor, and selleth himself to that comeling, either to any of his kin, (And if a newcomer, or a foreigner who liveth with you, groweth rich, and thy brother is made poor, and selleth himself to that newcomer, or to any of his kin,)

⁴⁸ he may be again-bought after the selling; he that will of his brethren, again-buy him; (he can be bought back after that he is sold; yea, he of his brothers who will do so, should buy him back;)

⁴⁹ both his father’s brother, and the son of his father’s brother, and his kinsman, and his ally. Else if also he shall be able, he shall again-buy himself, (or his father’s brother, or the son of his father’s brother, or another of his kin, should buy him back. Or if he is able, he should buy himself back,)

⁵⁰ while the years be reckoned only from the time of his (original) selling till into the year of jubilee; and while the money, for which he was sold, is reckoned by the number of years, and while the hire of an hired man is reckoned. (while the years be reckoned from the time when he first sold himself until the Jubilee Year; and while the price, for which he can be bought back, be reckoned by the wages for a hired man.)

⁵¹ If more years be that dwell till to the jubilee, by these years he shall yield also the price; (If there be more years that remain until the Jubilee Year, he shall pay the value of those years;)

⁵² if few years be (and even if there be only a few years left), he shall (still) set reckoning with him by the number of the(se) years; and (so) he shall yield (money) to the buyer (for) that that is left of [the] years,

⁵³ while those years, in which he served before, be reckoned for hires; (and) a stranger shall not torment an home-born man violently in thy sight. (while those years, in which he served before, shall be reckoned as for a hired man; never let a foreigner, or a stranger, violently torment a man born in the land before thee.)

⁵⁴ That if he may not be again-bought by this manner, he shall go out with his free children in the year of jubilee; (And even if he is not bought back in this manner, he shall still go out free with his children in the Jubilee Year;)

⁵⁵ for the sons of Israel be my servants, which I led out of the land of Egypt. I am your Lord God; (for the Israelites be my slaves, whom I led out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God;)