Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version “’If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. New Living Translation “If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave. English Standard Version “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: Berean Standard Bible If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. King James Bible And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: New King James Version ‘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. New American Standard Bible ‘Now if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. NASB 1995 ‘If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. NASB 1977 ‘And if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. Legacy Standard Bible ‘If a brother of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. Amplified Bible ‘And if your fellow countryman becomes so poor [in his dealings] with you that he sells himself to you [as payment for a debt], you shall not let him do the work of a slave [who is ineligible for redemption], Christian Standard Bible “If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor. Holman Christian Standard Bible If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor. American Standard Version And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant. Contemporary English Version Suppose some of your people become so poor that they have to sell themselves and become your slaves. English Revised Version And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant: GOD'S WORD® Translation "If an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to you, don't work him like a slave. Good News Translation If any Israelites living near you become so poor that they sell themselves to you as a slave, you shall not make them do the work of a slave. International Standard Version "If your brother with you becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, you are not to make him serve like a bond slave. Majority Standard Bible If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. NET Bible "'If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. New Heart English Bible "'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave. Webster's Bible Translation And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee shall have become poor, and be sold to thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant: World English Bible “‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave. Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionAnd when your brother becomes poor with you, and he has been sold to you, you do not lay servile service on him; Young's Literal Translation 'And when thy brother becometh poor with thee, and he hath been sold to thee, thou dost not lay on him servile service; Smith's Literal Translation And when thy brother shall be poor with thee, and he was sold to thee, thou shalt not serve upon him the service of a servant. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleIf thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants: Catholic Public Domain Version If your brother, having been compelled by poverty, will have sold himself to you, you shall not oppress him with the servitude of indentured servants. New American Bible When your kindred with you, having been so reduced to poverty, sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. New Revised Standard Version If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleAnd if your brother becomes poor and be sold to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant; Peshitta Holy Bible Translated And if your brother will become poor and will be sold to you, you shall not force him into the service of a Servant: OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant. Brenton Septuagint Translation And if thy brother by thee be lowered, and be sold to thee, he shall not serve thee with the servitude of a slave. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Redemption of Bondmen39If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. 40Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.… Cross References Exodus 21:2-6 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. / If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. / 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. ... Deuteronomy 15:12-18 If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. / And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. / You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. ... Jeremiah 34:14 Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear. Nehemiah 5:5 We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.” 1 Kings 9:22 But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. 2 Kings 4:1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!” Isaiah 58:6 Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? Ezekiel 46:17 But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it shall be theirs. Matthew 18:25-27 Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned. / Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ / His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him. Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God. 1 Corinthians 7:21-23 Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it concern you—but if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity. / For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. Conversely, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. / You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Philemon 1:16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and in the Lord. Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Treasury of Scripture And if your brother that dwells by you be waxen poor, and be sold to you; you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant: be sold Exodus 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Exodus 22:3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. Deuteronomy 15:12 And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. Leviticus 25:46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour. Exodus 1:14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. Jump to Previous Bond Bondservant Bond-Servant Compel Countryman Dwelleth Gives Grow Grown Lay Money Poor Property Regard Sell Sells Servant Serve Service Slave Slave's Sold Subject Use Waxed Waxen WorkJump to Next Bond Bondservant Bond-Servant Compel Countryman Dwelleth Gives Grow Grown Lay Money Poor Property Regard Sell Sells Servant Serve Service Slave Slave's Sold Subject Use Waxed Waxen WorkLeviticus 25 1. the Sabbath of the seventh year8. The jubilee in the fiftieth year 14. Of oppression 18. A blessing of obedience 23. The redemption of land 29. Of houses 35. Compassion to the poor 39. The usage of bondmen 47. The redemption of servants If your brother The term "brother" here is significant, emphasizing the familial and communal relationship among the Israelites. In Hebrew, the word is "אָח" (ach), which denotes not just a biological sibling but also a fellow member of the covenant community. This highlights the importance of viewing fellow Israelites as family, fostering a sense of unity and mutual responsibility. The use of "brother" underscores the call to treat each other with dignity and respect, reflecting the broader biblical principle of loving one's neighbor as oneself. among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you you must not force him to serve as a slave And be sold unto thee.--The voluntary disposal of his own liberty for a money consideration the Israelite could only effect by stress of poverty. Thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant.--Under these circumstances he is not to be treated like heathen slaves who are either purchased or captured, and made to do the menial service which these Gentile slaves have to perform. The authorities during the second Temple adduce the following as degrading work which the Israelite bondman is not to be put to: He must not attend his master at his bath, nor tie up or undo the latchets of his sandals, &c., &c. Verses 39-42. - We see the way in which a poor Israelite might become a slave in the case of the sons of the widow whose oil was multiplied by Elisha. "Thy servant my husband is dead; (and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord:) and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen" (2 Kings 4:1). And in the time of Nehemiah, "Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.... And, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards" (Nehemiah 5:3-5). But the fact that an Israelite could not be kept in slavery for more than six years (Exodus 21:2), and that the period of his service had to be still shorter if the jubilee fell before the seventh year, and the further fact that at the time of the jubilee he would not only he free, but recover any ancestral property that he had forfeited, so that he might become once more on an equality with his master, would have made his position totally different from the hopeless, helpless state of the Greek or Roman slave, even without the positive command that he was to be treated, not as a bondservant: but as an hired servant, and as a sojourner. All alike, master and bondsman, were the slaves of God, and therefore not only were they, so far, on an equality one with another, but the master would be encroaching on the right of God if he claimed God's slaves for his own inalienably.Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew Ifוְכִֽי־ (wə·ḵî-) Conjunctive waw | Conjunction Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction a countryman אָחִ֛יךָ (’ā·ḥî·ḵā) Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular Strong's 251: A brother, ) among you עִמָּ֖ךְ (‘im·māḵ) Preposition | second person feminine singular Strong's 5973: With, equally with becomes destitute יָמ֥וּךְ (yā·mūḵ) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 4134: To be low or depressed, to grow poor and sells himself וְנִמְכַּר־ (wə·nim·kar-) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 4376: To sell to you, לָ֑ךְ (lāḵ) Preposition | second person feminine singular Strong's Hebrew you must not לֹא־ (lō-) Adverb - Negative particle Strong's 3808: Not, no force תַעֲבֹ֥ד (ṯa·‘ă·ḇōḏ) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave him into בּ֖וֹ (bōw) Preposition | third person masculine singular Strong's Hebrew slave עָֽבֶד׃ (‘ā·ḇeḏ) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 5650: Slave, servant labor. עֲבֹ֥דַת (‘ă·ḇō·ḏaṯ) Noun - feminine singular construct Strong's 5656: Work of any kind Links Leviticus 25:39 NIVLeviticus 25:39 NLT Leviticus 25:39 ESV Leviticus 25:39 NASB Leviticus 25:39 KJV Leviticus 25:39 BibleApps.com Leviticus 25:39 Biblia Paralela Leviticus 25:39 Chinese Bible Leviticus 25:39 French Bible Leviticus 25:39 Catholic Bible OT Law: Leviticus 25:39 If your brother has grown poor among (Le Lv Lev.) |
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