Exodus 21:1-11

Contemporary English Version

Hebrew Slaves

(Deuteronomy 15.12-18)

21 The Lord gave Moses the following laws for his people:

^2 (A) If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him. ³ If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. ⁴ If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.

⁵ But suppose the slave loves his wife and children and his owner so much that he won't leave them. ⁶ Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship,^[a] while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.

⁷ A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. ⁸ If she doesn't please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back.^[b] He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. ⁹ If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.

¹⁰ If the man later marries another woman, he must continue to provide food and clothing for the one he bought and to treat her as a wife. ¹¹ If he fails to do any of these things, she must be given her freedom without paying for it.