Leviticus 25:39-43
Listen to this page
Open the MP3 directly
The context
Leviticus 25 sets out the sabbatical year and the jubilee release of property and persons. Verses 39-43 address an Israelite who has fallen into poverty and sold himself to a fellow Israelite. He is to be treated as a hired worker, released in the jubilee, and not ruled harshly.
What it establishes
It establishes that within Israel, debt-servitude was bounded: the person retained the status of a hired laborer, the term was limited, and harsh rule was forbidden on the stated ground that the people belong to God as his servants.
What it does not establish
It does not abolish servitude. The passage regulates a practice it assumes, and it distinguishes the foreign slave from the Israelite brother in the verses that follow. It does not call the practice good; it limits how a freed people may treat their poor.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.