Exodus 21:1-11

New International Version

21 “These are the laws^(A) you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants^(B)(C)

² “If you buy a Hebrew servant,^(D) he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free,^(E) without paying anything. ³ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’^{(F) 6} then his master must take him before the judges.^[a](G) He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce^(H) his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.^(I)

⁷ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,^[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.^{(J) 11} If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.