“‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
Parallel translations
- KJV Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
- BSB Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.
- NLT “However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you.
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
Israel was permitted to acquire male and female slaves from surrounding nations. The law here regulated, rather than commended, an existing institution.
Overview
This verse allowed Israel to obtain non-Israelite servants from neighboring peoples, distinct from the protections given to fellow Israelites. Within its ancient setting, the law regulated and restrained a widespread practice rather than presenting it as God's creational ideal. Faithful Christians read such texts in light of the whole biblical trajectory, which affirms all people as image-bearers and in the gospel breaks down every barrier, so that in Christ there is neither slave nor free (Galatians 3:28).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Exod 12:44but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
- Ps 2:8–9Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
- Isa 14:1–2For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
- Rev 2:26–27He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 25:44 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.