Study Desk

" 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.

He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.

Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.

Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

" 'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.

You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.

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

" 'If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan,

he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:

An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years.

If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him.

If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly.

He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly.

" 'Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee,

for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.