⁹ But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.

³¹ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but ^(A)of the free woman.

²⁶ But ^(A)the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

¹¹ He said, ^(A)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(B)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(C)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

^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.

⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be ^(A)my treasured possession among all peoples, for ^(B)all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a ^(C)kingdom of priests and ^(D)a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”