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.
Parallel translations
- WEB “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
- KJV If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
- NKJV If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
- NASB “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.
- NLT “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve for no more than six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A Hebrew servant was to serve six years and go free in the seventh without payment. God built limits and liberty into Israel's servitude laws.
Overview
Unlike surrounding nations, Israel's law required release of Hebrew bondservants after six years, protecting them from permanent enslavement. This reflects God's redemptive concern and recalls Israel's own deliverance from Egypt. The God who frees slaves ultimately frees sinners through Christ, granting true and lasting liberty (John 8:36).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Deut 15:12–15If 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.
- Exod 12:44But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
- Deut 15:18Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
- Deut 31:10Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,
- Exod 22:3But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.
- Neh 5:8and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
- Lev 25:39–45If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
- Jer 34:8–17After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD
- Neh 5:1–5About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
- Deut 15:1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
- Gen 27:28May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now 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!”
- Matt 18:25Since 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.
- 1 Cor 6:20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- Gen 27:36So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 21:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.