Leviticus 25:46

You can pass them on to your children to inherit as property after you die. You can make them slaves for life, but you must not brutally treat any of your own people, the Israelites, as a slave.

Free Bible Version

In The King James Version

And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

In Context

45You can also buy them from foreigners who have come to live among you, or from their descendants born in your land. You can treat them as your property.

47If a foreigner among you becomes successful, and one of your people living nearby becomes poor and sells themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's family,

Read all of Leviticus 25

Cross References

Isaiah 14:2Nations will go with them and escort them to their own land. The foreigners who stay in the Lord's land will serve the Israelites. In this way the captors become their captives, and they rule over their former oppressors.

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 25:40-55

Oppression of Brethren Forbidden. ( b. c. 1490.) 39 And 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: 40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee: 41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. 42 For they are my servants, which I brought… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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