Leviticus 25:39–46

³⁹And if thy brother grow poor beside thee, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: ⁴⁰as a hired servant, as a sojourner, shall he be with thee; until the year of jubilee shall he serve thee. ⁴¹Then shall he depart from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. ⁴²For they are my bondmen, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as men sell bondmen. ⁴³Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; and thou shalt fear thy God. ⁴⁴And as for thy bondman and thy handmaid whom thou shalt have—of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and handmaids. ⁴⁵Moreover of the children of them that dwell as sojourners with you, of them may ye buy, and of their family that is with you, which they beget in your land, and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶And ye shall leave them as an inheritance to your children after you, to inherit them as a possession: these may ye make your bondmen for ever; but as for your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule over one another with rigour.