Exodus 21:4-6

Contemporary English Version

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.