38 kI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law Concerning Slavery

39 ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you—he and his children lwith him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are mMy servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 nYou shall not rule over him owith 3rigor, but you pshall fear your God. 44 And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover you may buy qthe children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46 And ryou may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.