39 Bible Verses about Slavery, In Ot

When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, offer them peace. And if they answer thee again peaceably, and open unto thee, then let all the people that is found therein be tributaries unto thee and serve thee.

Then said the king of Sodom unto Abram, "Give me the souls, and take the goods to thyself."

And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian prisoners, and their children; and spoiled all their cattle, their substance and their goods.

And there had gone a company of soldiers out of Syria a running, and had brought out of the country of Israel a little maid, which was with Naaman's wife.

And the children of Israel took prisoners of their brethren two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters, and thereto carried away much spoil of them, and brought it to Samaria.

"'If thou wilt have bondservants and maidens, thou shalt buy them of the heathen that are round about you, and of the children of the strangers that are sojourners among you, and of their generations that are with you, which they begat in your land.

And as soon as Joseph was come unto his brethren, they stripped him out of his gay coat that was upon him, and they took him and cast him into a pit. But the pit was empty and had no water therein. And they sat them down to eat bread. And as they lift up their eyes and looked about, there came a company of Ishmaelites from Gilead, and their camels laden with spicery, balm, and myrrh, and were going down into Egypt.read more.
Then said Judah to his brethren, "What availeth it that we slay our brother, and keep his blood secret? Come on, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hands be defiled upon him: for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brethren were content. Then as the Midianites merchant men passed by, they drew Joseph out of the pit and sold him unto the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought him into Egypt.

And there cried a certain woman of the wives of the children of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, "Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD. And the creditor is come to fetch my two sons, to be his bondmen."

If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him: except the su be up when he is found, then there shall be blood shed for him. A thief shall make restitution: If he have not wherewith, he shall be sold for his theft.

"'If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth:

If thy brother, an Hebrew, sell himself to thee, or an Hebrewess, he shall serve thee six years and the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

And there arose a great complaint of the people, and of their wives, against their brethren the Jews. For there were some that said, "Our sons and daughters and we are too many, let us take corn for them to eat, that we may live." Some said, "Let us set our lands, vineyards, and houses, to pledge, and take up corn in the dearth."read more.
But some said, "Let us borrow money of the king's tribute for our lands and vineyards. Now are our brethrens' bodies as our own bodies and their children as our children: else should we subdue our sons and daughters into bondage, and some of our daughters are subdued already, and no strength is there in our hands, and other men shall have our lands and vineyards."

And if his master have given him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters: then the wife and her children shall be her master's and he shall go out alone.

And every manchild when it is eight days old, shall be circumcised among you in your generations, and all servants also born at home or bought with money, though they be strangers and not of thy seed. The servant born in thy house, and he also that is bought with money, must needs be circumcised, that my covenant may be in your flesh, for an everlasting bond.

"Is Israel a bond servant, or one of the household? Why is he then so spoiled?

And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah and assaulted it and gat it. And he took the king's crown from off his head, which weighed a hundred weight of gold, and was set with precious stones. And David wore it on his head. And he brought out the spoil of the city in exceeding great abundance. And he brought out the people that was therein and sawed them and drew harrows of iron upon them, and shred some of them with shredding knives of iron, and thrust some into furnaces. And so he served all the cities of the children of Ammon. And then David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.

And he set taskmasters over them, to keep them under with burdens. And they built unto Pharaoh treasure cities: Pithom and Rameses. But the more they vexed them, the more they multiplied and grew: so that they abhorred the children of Israel. And the Egyptians held the children of Israel in bondage without mercy,read more.
and made their lives bitter unto them with cruel labour in clay and brick, and all manner work in the fields, and in all manner of service, which they caused them to work cruelly.

Then Joshua sent for them, and talked with them, and said, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us and yet ye dwell among us? And now therefore cursed be you, and there shall not cease to be of you, bondmen and hewers of wood and drawers of water unto the house of my God."

Notwithstanding, they drave not out the Cananites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Cananites dwelt among the Ephraimites unto this day, and pay tribute.

But as soon as Israel was waxed mighty, they put the Cananites to tribute: but expelled them not.

And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, the children of the said nations that were left in the land, because the children of Israel were not able to destroy them, did Solomon make tributaries unto this day.

See therefore that thou reign not over him cruelly, but fear thy God.

"If a man sell his daughter to be a servant: she shall not go out as the menservants do. If she please not her master, so that he hath given her to no man to wife, then shall he let her go free: to sell her unto a strange nation shall he have no power, because he despised her. If he have promised her unto his son to wife, he shall deal with her as men do with their daughters.read more.
If he take him another wife, yet her food, raiment and duty of marriage shall he not minish. If he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free and pay no money.

Six days thou shalt do thy work and the seventh day thou shalt keep holy day, that thine ox and thine ass may rest and the son of thy maid and the stranger may be refreshed.

Six days mayest thou labour and do all that thou hast to do: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt do no manner work: neither thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, neither thy manservant nor thy maidservant, neither thy cattle neither yet the stranger that is within thy gates.

Therefore, when the LORD your God hath chosen a place to make his name dwell there, thither ye shall bring all that I command you: your burnt sacrifices and your offerings, your tithes and the heave offerings of your hands and all your godly vows which ye vow unto the LORD. And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, both ye, your sons and your daughters, your servants and your maids and the Levite that is within your gates for he hath neither part nor inheritance with you.

And Abram said, "See, to me hast thou given no seed: lo, a lad born in my house shall be mine heir!"

Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee.

If he be not bought free in the meantime, then he shall go out in the trumpet year and his children with him; for the children of Israel are my servants which I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

"'If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth: but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the trumpet year, and then shall he depart from thee: both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own kindred again and unto the possessions of his fathers;

If thou buy a servant that is an Hebrew, sixth years he shall serve, and the seventh he shall go out free paying nothing.

If he came alone, he shall go out alone: If he came married, his wife shall go out with him. And if his master have given him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters: then the wife and her children shall be her master's and he shall go out alone. But and if the servant say, 'I love my master and my wife and my children, I will not go out free.'read more.
Then let his master bring him unto the judges and set him to the door or the doorpost, and bore his ear through with an awl, and let him be his servant forever.

If thy brother, an Hebrew, sell himself to thee, or an Hebrewess, he shall serve thee six years and the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: but shalt give him of thy sheep and of thy corn and of thy wine, and give him of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.read more.
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God delivered thee thence: wherefore I command thee this thing today. But and if he say unto thee, 'I will not go away from thee,' because he loveth thee and thine house and is well at ease with thee: Then take an awl and nail his ear to the door therewith and let him be thy servant forever, and unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. And let it not grieve thine eyes to let him go out from thee, for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee in his service six years. And the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

These are the words that the LORD spake unto Jeremiah the prophet, when Zedekiah was agreed with all the people at Jerusalem, that there should be proclaimed a liberty: so that every man should let his servant and handmaid go free, Hebrew and Hebrewess, and no Jew to hold his brother as a bond man. Now as they had consented, even so they were obedient, and let them go free.read more.
But afterward they repented, and took again the servants and the hand maidens, whom they had let go free, and so made them bond again. For the which cause the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah from the LORD himself, saying, "Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, that they should no more be bondmen: saying, 'When seven years are out, every man shall let his bought servant, a Hebrew go free, if he have served him six years.' But your fathers obeyed me not and hearkened not unto me. As for you, ye were now turned, and did right before me, in that ye proclaimed, every man to let his neighbour go free, and in that ye made a covenant before me, in the temple that beareth my name. But yet ye have turned yourselves again, and blasphemed my name, in this: That every man hath required his servant and handmaid again, whom ye had letten go quit and free, and compelled them to serve you again, and to be your bondmen. And therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Ye have not obeyed me, every man to proclaim freedom unto his brother and neighbour: wherefore, I will call you unto a freedom, sayeth the LORD - even unto the sword, to the pestilence, and to hunger, and will make you to be plagued in all the kingdoms of the earth. Yea, those men that have broken my covenant, and not kept the words of the covenant which they made before me - when they hewed the calf in two, and when there went through the two halves thereof - The princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the gelded men, the Priests and all the people of the land, which went through the two sides of the calf. Those men will I give into the power of their enemies, and into the hands of them that follow upon their lives. And their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the field.

"'When a stranger and a sojourner waxeth rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him waxeth poor and sell himself unto the stranger that dwelleth by thee or to any of the stranger's kin: after that he is sold he may be redeemed again: one of his brethren may buy him out; whether it be his uncle or his uncle's son, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his kindred: either if his hand can get so much he may be loosed.read more.
And he shall reckon with him that bought him, from the year that he was sold in unto the trumpet year, and the price of his buying shall be according unto the number of years, and he shall be with him as a hired servant. If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again for his deliverance, of the money that he was sold for. If there remain but few years unto the trumpet year, he shall so count with him, and according unto his years give him again for his redemption, and shall be with him year by year as a hired servant, and the other shall not reign cruelly over him in thy sight.

And ye shall possess them and give them unto your children after you, to possess them for ever: and they shall be your bondmen. But over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not reign one over another cruelly.

But if it be a servant or a maid that the ox hath gored, then he shall give unto their master the sum of thirty sicles, and the ox shall be stoned.

"'If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth: but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the trumpet year, and then shall he depart from thee: both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own kindred again and unto the possessions of his fathers;read more.
for they are my servants which I brought out of the land of Egypt, and shall not be sold as bondmen.

Then when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the young man that was with him, "Come, let us return, lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us." And he answered him, "Behold, there is in this city a worshipful man of God, and all that he sayeth cometh to pass. Now then let us go thither: peradventure he shall show us what way we may go." Then said Saul to his lad, "If we go, what shall we bring the man? For our bread is all spent out of our hampers and there is none other present to bring the man of God. What have we?"read more.
And the young man answered Saul again, and said, "I have found about me the fourth part of a sicle: that will we give the man of God to tell us our way." Before time in Israel, when a man went to seek an answer of God, thus wise he spake: "Come, and let us go to the Seer." For he that is now called a prophet, was in the old time called a Seer. Then said Saul to his young man, "Well said of thee, 'Come let us go.'" And so they went unto the city where the man of God was.