22 May 2014

Every Jot and Tittle: Exodus 21 - The slavery commandments

In the Every Jot and Tittle project, I am listing all of the Bible's commandments from Genesis to Revelation, in accordance with Jesus's words in Matthew 5:18-19. I have no idea how many commandments I'll find, but Jewish tradition claims there are 613.

Although these the commandments are for Hebrew slaves, they are easily adapted for Bible believers. Just replace "Hebrew" with "Bible believer" in the below commandments and you're all set.

  1. If you buy a Hebrew slave, set him free after six years of slavery.
  2. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Exodus 21:2

    And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. Deuteronomy 15:12-14

  3. If your Hebrew slave was married when you bought him, you shall free both the slave and his wife after six years of slavery.
  4. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. Exodus 21:3

  5. If you gave your Hebrew slave a wife and they had children, you shall keep your slave's wife and children and let him go free.
  6. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. Exodus 21:4

  7. If your Hebrew slave refuses to leave his wife and children, you shall bore a hole in his ear and he shall serve you forever.
  8. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. Exodus 21:5-6

    If he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. Deuteronomy 15:16-17

  9. If you sell your daughter, she shall not be freed after six years (as are male Hebrew slaves).
  10. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. Exodus 21:7

  11. If your daughter fails to please her master, she shall be sold again to a Hebrew man.
  12. If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. Exodus 21:8

  13. If the man who bought your daughter gives her to his son, the man who bought her shall treat her as his own daughter.
  14. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. Exodus 21:9
    But if the slave’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave but as a daughter. (New Living Translation)

  15. If a man takes another wife, he shall continue to feed, clothe, and have sex with his first wife.
  16. If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. Exodus 21:10

  17. If the man fails to feed, clothe, and have sex with his slave wife, he shall set her free.
  18. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. Exodus 21:11
    If he fails in any of these three obligations, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (New Living Translation)

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