Leviticus 25:39-55

The Voice

³⁹ If your fellow citizen becomes so poor that he must sell himself to you as a slave, do not treat him as a slave. ⁴⁰ Have him work for you as a hired hand, as an outsider might, until the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he and his children will be released from your service, and he will return to his family and to the property that belonged to his ancestors. ⁴² After all, they are My servants; I led them out of Egypt so they must never be sold as slaves. ⁴³ You are not allowed to treat them badly. Instead fear your God. ⁴⁴ On the other hand, you may acquire slaves, both men and women, from the nations surrounding you ⁴⁵ and from the outsiders who live among you. You can acquire their family members who have been born in the land. You can keep them as property ⁴⁶ and pass them down to your children as part of their inheritance for all time. You may continue to own them, even after jubilee. Remember if your slave is a fellow Israelite, then you must not deal with him harshly.

⁴⁷ If a foreigner or outsider living among you becomes rich enough to buy a slave, and one of your fellow citizens has become poor enough he has to sell himself as a slave to him or to his extended family, ^48-49 then your fellow citizen has the right to be redeemed. One of his brothers, his uncle, his cousin, or any more distant relative may buy him back. If he makes enough money, he can purchase his own freedom. ⁵⁰ As for the man who bought him, he and the buyer will determine the price based on how many years are between the year he sold himself and the year of jubilee. The time with his owner must be valued as if he were a hired hand. ^51-52 Whether there are many years left before the jubilee or just a few, the cost of his redemption is determined by those remaining years. ⁵³ He must be treated as a laborer hired year to year, and you need to make sure the owner does not treat him harshly. ⁵⁴ If he is not able to gain his freedom this way, he and his children will be freed in the year of jubilee. ⁵⁵ For the Israelites are truly My servants; I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Eternal One, your God.