that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.
Parallel translations
- WEB that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Jew his brother.
- KJV That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
- NKJV that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.
- NASB that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that no one would keep them, his Jewish brother or sister, in bondage.
- NLT He had ordered all the people to free their Hebrew slaves—both men and women. No one was to keep a fellow Judean in bondage.
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
The covenant required every Hebrew slave to be set free, so no Jew would enslave a fellow Jew. It aimed to restore obedience to God's law.
Overview
This freeing of Hebrew bondservants reflected the Mosaic law's provision against permanent enslavement of fellow Israelites (Ex. 21:2; Deut. 15:12). The act recognized that all the people were brothers under God's covenant. It briefly aligned the nation with God's heart for mercy and justice toward His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Cor 6:8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers!
- Jer 27:7All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.
- Lev 25:39–46If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
- Gen 40:15For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”
- Jer 34:10So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,
- Exod 3:18The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
- Gen 14:13Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram.
- 1 Sam 4:9Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”
- Jer 25:14For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”
- Phil 3:5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
- Deut 15:12If 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.
- 2 Cor 11:22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
- 1 Sam 4:6On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp,
- Jer 30:8On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will break the yoke off their necks and tear off their bonds, and no longer will strangers enslave them.
- 1 Sam 14:11So the two of them showed themselves to the outpost of the Philistines, who exclaimed, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they were hiding!”
- Exod 2:6When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 34:9 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.