Exodus 21:7

21:7 “If a man sells his daughter ¹  as a female servant, ²  she will not go out as the male servants do.

Leviticus 25:39

25:39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. ³ 

Deuteronomy 32:30

32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, ⁴ 

and two pursue ten thousand;

unless their Rock had delivered them up, ⁵ 

and the Lord had handed them over?

Deuteronomy 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ⁶ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ⁷  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁸  is giving you.

Nehemiah 5:5

5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ⁹  and our children are just like their children, ¹⁰  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ¹¹  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ¹²  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ¹³ 

Esther 7:4

7:4 For we have been sold ¹⁴  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

Psalms 44:12

44:12 You sold ¹⁵  your people for a pittance; ¹⁶ 

you did not ask a high price for them. ¹⁷ 

Matthew 18:25

18:25 Because ¹⁸  he was not able to repay it, ¹⁹  the lord ordered him to be sold, along with ²⁰  his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made.

[21:7]  ¹ sn This paragraph is troubling to modern readers, but given the way that marriages were contracted and the way people lived in the ancient world, it was a good provision for people who might want to find a better life for their daughter. On the subject in general for this chapter, see W. M. Swartley, Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women, 31-64.

[21:7]  ² tn The word אָמָה (’amah) refers to a female servant who would eventually become a concubine or wife; the sale price included the amount for the service as well as the bride price (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 621). The arrangement recognized her honor as an Israelite woman, one who could be a wife, even though she entered the household in service. The marriage was not automatic, as the conditions show, but her treatment was safeguarded come what may. The law was a way, then, for a poor man to provide a better life for a daughter.

[25:39]  ³ tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant.

[32:30]  ⁴ tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[32:2]  ⁶ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[4:1]  ⁷ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ¹² tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ¹³ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[7:4]  ¹⁴ sn The passive verb (“have been sold”) is noncommittal and nonaccusatory with regard to the king’s role in the decision to annihilate the Jews.

[44:12]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”

[44:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”

[18:25]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:25]  ¹⁹ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:25]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and his wife.”