If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 15:12–15And 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.
- Exod 12:44But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
- Deut 15:18It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
- Deut 31:10And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
- Exod 22:3If 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.
- Neh 5:8And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
- Lev 25:39–45And 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:
- Jer 34:8–17This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
- Neh 5:1–5And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
- Deut 15:1At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
- Gen 27:28Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons 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 take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
- Matt 18:25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
- 1 Cor 6:20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- Gen 27:36And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved 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.