Exodus 21:2-4
2 aWhen you buy a Hebrew slave, ▼▼Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles; also verses 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 26, 27, 32 (see Preface)
he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. Exodus 23:10-11
Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals
10 c“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.Leviticus 25:10
10And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and dproclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of eyou shall return to his clan.Leviticus 25:39-46
39 f“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 gThen he shall go out from you, hhe and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return ito the possession of his fathers. 42For they are jmy servants, ▼▼Hebrew slaves
whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 lYou shall not rule over him mruthlessly but nshall fear your God. 44As 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 oYou 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. 46You 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 pyou shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly. Deuteronomy 15:12
12 q“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold ▼▼Or sells himself
to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. Nehemiah 5:1-13
Nehemiah Stops Oppression of the Poor
1Now there arose sa great outcry of the people and of their wives tagainst their Jewish brothers. 2For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for uthe king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5Now vour flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet wwe are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”6I was very angry when I heard xtheir outcry and these words. 7I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, y“You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, zhave bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk aain the fear of our God abto prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12Then they said, “We will restore these and acrequire nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and admade them swear aeto do as they had promised. 13 afI also shook out the fold ▼
▼Hebrew bosom
of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” ahAnd all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised. Jeremiah 34:14
14 ai‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ajyou must set him free from your service.’ But akyour fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.Jeremiah 34:17
17“Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me alby proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ambehold, I proclaim to you liberty anto the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. aoI will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
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