Deuteronomy 15:16-18

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁶ But if he says to you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his earlobe into the door, and he shall be your slave^[a] forever.

You shall do the same with regard to your female slave.^[b]

¹⁸ Do not consider it a hardship when you send them out from you free persons, because for six years they have given you services worth the wages of hired laborers; and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.