Exodus 21:1-11

1“Now these are the ordinances (laws) which you shall set before the Israelites:

2“If you purchase a Hebrew servant [because of his debt or poverty], he shall serve six years, and in the seventh [year] he shall leave as a free man, paying nothing.

3If he came [to you] alone, he shall leave alone; if he came married, then his wife shall leave with him.

4If his master gives him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall leave [your service] alone.

5But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not leave as a free man,’

6then his master shall bring him to God [that is, to the judges who act in God’s name], then he shall bring him to the door or doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl (strong needle); and he shall serve him for life.

7“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go free [after six years] as male servants do.

8If she does not please her master who has chosen her for himself [as a wife], he shall let her be redeemed [by her family]. He does not have the authority to sell her to a foreign people, because he has been unfair to her.

9If her master chooses her [as a wife] for his son, he shall act toward her as if she were legally his daughter.

10If her master marries another wife, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her privilege as a wife.

11If he does not do these three things for her, then shall she leave free, without payment of money.