Bible passages grouped for study and reflection.

₁₆ He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

₃₅ The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

₂ “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. ₃ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ₄ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. ₅ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ ₆ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. ₇ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ₈ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ₉ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ₁₀ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. ₁₁ If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

₂₀ “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ₂₁ but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

₂₀ “ ‘If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. ₂₁ The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. ₂₂ With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.

₄₄ “ ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ₄₅ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ₄₆ You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

₁₀ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. ₁₁ If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. ₁₂ If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ₁₃ When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. ₁₄ As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. ₁₅ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

₁₀ When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, ₁₁ if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. ₁₂ Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails ₁₃ and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. ₁₄ If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

₁ The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob. ₂ Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And Israel will take possession of the nations and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

₅ Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ₆ Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ₇ Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ₈ because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. ₉ And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

₂₂ Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ₂₃ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ₂₄ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ₂₅ Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

₁ Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

₁ All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. ₂ Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves. These are the things you are to teach and insist on.

₉ Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, ₁₀ and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

₁₈ Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. ₁₉ For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. ₂₀ But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.