'Slaves' in the Bible

he said, "Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his relatives."

Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be certain about this: Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that isn't theirs. They will be slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years.

Go ahead and execute whichever one of your servants is discovered to have it, and we'll remain as your master's slaves."

"What can we say, Your Excellency?" Judah replied. "How can we explain this or justify ourselves? God has discovered the sin of your servants, and now we've become slaves to you, Your Excellency, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been discovered."

So why should we and our land die right in front of you? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed, so we can survive and not die, and so the land won't stay desolate."

"You've saved our lives," they replied. "If it pleases you, your Excellency, we'll be Pharaoh's slaves."

Since they're my servants whom I've brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

"As for your male and maid slaves who will be with you, you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations.

You may give them as inherited property to your children after you, to own as properties in perpetuity. You may make bond slaves of them, but no one is to rule over his fellow Israeli with harshness.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you will no longer be their slaves, since I've broken their oppressive yoke upon you to make you walk upright."

tell him, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with great power.

then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the door. Then he will be your slave forever. You are to do the same for your female slaves.

Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, so keep and observe these statutes."

Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.

Remember to observe this because you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

Remember to do this because you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I'm commanding you to do this."

Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you'd never see again. There you'll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

Now therefore you are under a curse. Some of you will always be slaves, wood cutters, and water carriers for the house of my God."

A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, "This is what the LORD says: "When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron

Philistines, be strong and be men, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews just as they have been slaves to you! Be men and fight!"

Nevertheless, they will become his slaves so they may learn to differentiate between what it means to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of these nations."

Now you're intending to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. Surely you have your own sins against the LORD your God for which you're accountable, don't you?

Even though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he has extended gracious love to us in the presence of the kings of Persia, to grant us revival, to set up the Temple of our God, to repair its damage, and to give us a protective wall for Judah and Jerusalem.

Indeed, I and my people have been sold to be annihilated, killed, and destroyed. If we had just been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because the trouble wouldn't have been sufficient to bother the king."

I acquired male and female slaves, and had other slaves born in my house. I also acquired for myself increasing numbers of herds and flocks more than anyone who had lived before me in Jerusalem.

Indeed many nations and great kings will make slaves even of them, and I'll repay them according to their deeds, according to what they have done.'"

Each person was to set free his male and female slaves who were Hebrews, so that no Jewish person would enslave his brother.

All the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant agreed that each would set his male and female slaves free so that they would not enslave them any longer. They obeyed and they released them.

But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves that they had set free, and they forced them to become male and female slaves.

But then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves whom you had set free according to their desire, and you forced them to become male and female slaves."'

Slaves rule over us, and no one delivers us from their control.

Greece, Tubal, and Meshech bartered with you, exchanging slaves and bronze vessels for your wares.

And look, I will shake my fist over them, and they will become plunder for their former slaves. And you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent me."'"

They replied to him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, "You will be set free'?"

In those days I will even pour out my Spirit on my slaves, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.

We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thank God that, though you were once slaves of sin, you became obedient from your hearts to that form of teaching with which you were entrusted!

And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

I am speaking in simple terms because of the frailty of your human nature. Just as you once offered the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater disobedience, so now, in the same way, you must offer the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness that leads to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were "free" as far as righteousness was concerned.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

You were bought for a price. Stop becoming slaves of people.

For by one Spirit all of us Jews and Greeks, slaves and free were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit.

You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face!

It was the same way with us. While we were children, we were slaves to the basic principles of the world.

However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear, trembling, and sincerity, as when you obey the Messiah.

Do not do this only while you're being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God's will.

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched in order to please them, but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, aiming to please them and not argue with them

After all, we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and misled. We were slaves to many kinds of lusts and pleasures, spending our days in malice and jealousy. We were despised, and we hated one another.

and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death.

Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him.

Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people concealed themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains.

The second beast forces all people important and unimportant, rich and poor, free and slaves to be marked on their right hands or on their foreheads,

cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and slaves (that is, human souls)

Eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of warriors, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, both unimportant and important."