Deuteronomy 15:12-18

Contemporary English Version

Setting Slaves Free

(Exodus 21.1-11)

Moses said to Israel:

¹²^(A) If any of you buy Israelites as slaves, you must set them free after six years. ¹³And don't just tell them they are free to leave— ¹⁴give them sheep and goats and a good supply of grain and wine. The more the Lord has given you, the more you should give them. ¹⁵I am commanding you to obey the Lord as a reminder that you were slaves in Egypt before he set you free. ¹⁶But one of your slaves may say, “I love you and your family, and I would be better off staying with you, so please don't make me leave.” ¹⁷Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women.

¹⁸Don't complain when you have to set a slave free. After all, you got six years of service at half the cost of hiring someone to do the work.^[a]

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Footnotes

15.18 six years … work: Or “six years of service, and it cost you no more than if you had hired someone to do the work”; or “six years of service, for what you would have had to pay a worker for two years.”