Appendix I — Bible Passages Discussing the Treatment of Slaves or Servants

Old Testament

• Exodus 21:2-11 gives regulations concerning Hebrew slaves: they serve for six years and are released in the seventh year. If a slave chooses to stay with his master, his ear is pierced as a mark of lifelong servitude. It also addresses the treatment of female slaves, ensuring their rights and dignity are protected within the household of their master.

² When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. ³ If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. ⁵ But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

⁷ “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. ⁸ If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. ¹⁰ If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. ¹¹ And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

• Exodus 21:20-21 specifies that if a slave dies immediately after being struck by their master, the master is to be punished. However, if the slave survives for a day or two, no punishment is required, as the slave is considered the master’s property.

²⁰ “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. ²¹ But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

• Leviticus 25:39-46 distinguishes between Hebrew servants, who must be treated as hired workers and released in the Year of Jubilee, and foreign slaves, who may be owned as property and passed down as inheritance. It emphasizes humane treatment of fellow Israelites and prohibits harsh rule over them, reminding the people to fear God in their dealings.

³⁹ “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: ⁴⁰ he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. ⁴² For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. ⁴⁶ You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

• Deuteronomy 15:12-18 distinguishes between Hebrew servants, who are to be treated as hired workers and released in the Year of Jubilee, and foreign slaves, who may be owned as property and passed down as inheritance. Israelites are commanded not to treat their fellow Hebrews harshly but to remember that all are servants of God.

¹² “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. ¹⁴ You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. ¹⁵ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. ¹⁶ But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

• Deuteronomy 23:15-16 commands that escaped slaves seeking refuge among the Israelites must not be returned to their masters. Instead, they are to be allowed to live freely among the Israelites in whatever place they choose, and they must not be oppressed or mistreated.

¹⁵ “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

• Deuteronomy 24:14-15 commands fair treatment of hired workers, emphasizing that they should be paid promptly because they rely on their wages. Failure to do so is considered a sin before the Lord.

¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ¹⁵ You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

• Proverbs 22:16 warns against oppressing the poor to gain wealth or showing favoritism to the rich, asserting that such actions will ultimately lead to poverty.

¹⁶ Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

New Testament

• Ephesians 6:5-9 instructs bondservants to obey their earthly masters sincerely and with reverence, serving as if they were serving Christ himself, not out of mere external performance but from the heart. Masters are urged to treat their bondservants with fairness and kindness, knowing that they too have a Master in heaven who shows no partiality.

⁵ Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, ⁶ not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, ⁸ knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. ⁹ Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

• Colossians 3:22-4:1 exhorts bondservants to obey their earthly masters wholeheartedly, not for appearance but with sincerity, as if serving the Lord Christ. It emphasizes that both bondservants and masters are accountable to God, who judges impartially. Masters are urged to treat their bondservants justly and fairly, recognizing their own accountability to their heavenly Master.

^3:22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

^4:1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

• 1 Timothy 6:1-2 instructs bondservants to honor their masters, especially if their masters are believers, to avoid bringing dishonor to God’s name and teachings. They are encouraged to serve diligently, recognizing the mutual benefit and respect in their relationship.

¹  Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. ² Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

Teach and urge these things.

• Titus 2:9-10 advises bondservants to be submissive to their masters in all things, aiming to please them and not engage in arguments or theft. They are encouraged to demonstrate good faith, thereby reflecting the teachings of God our Savior in their conduct.

⁹ Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

• 1 Peter 2:18-20 instructs servants to submit to their masters with respect, even when treated unjustly. Enduring suffering for doing good, rather than for wrongdoing, is regarded as commendable in God’s sight.

¹⁸ Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹ For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.