Leviticus 25:44

42 For they are ^aMy servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.

43 ^aYou shall not rule over him ^bwith rigor, but you ^cshall 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 ^athe 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 ^ayou 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.

47 ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,

48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him;

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Leviticus 25:45 >>

Leviticus 25:44-46

Property in foreign slaves is here distinctly permitted. It was a patriarchal custom Genesis 17:12. Such slaves might be captives taken in war (Numbers 31:6 following; Deuteronomy 20:14), or those consigned to slavery for their crimes, or those purchased of foreign slave-dealers. The price of a slave is supposed to have varied from thirty to fifty shekels. See Leviticus 27:3-4, note; Exodus 21:32, note; Zechariah 11:12-13, note; Matthew 26:15, note. It was the object of Moses, not at once to do away with slavery, but to discourage and to mitigate it. The Law would not suffer it to be forgotten that the slave was a man, and protected him in every way that was possible at the time against the injustice or cruelty of his master. See the notes at Exodus 21.

Leviticus 25:46

Your bondmen forever - i. e. they were not necessarily to be released in the sabbatical year nor at the Jubilee.

Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Leviticus 25:44:

Exodus 21:20-21
Exodus 21:28-32
Matthew 18:25

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Leviticus 25:45 >>

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