Leviticus 25:40-41

25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; ¹  he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then ²  he may go free, ³  he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. ⁴ 

Exodus 21:2-3

Hebrew Servants

21:2 ⁵ “If you buy ⁶  a Hebrew servant, ⁷  he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free ⁸  without paying anything. ⁹  21:3 If he came ¹⁰  in by himself ¹¹  he will go out by himself; if he had ¹²  a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him.

Isaiah 49:9

49:9 You will say ¹³  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ¹⁴  ‘Emerge.’ ¹⁵ 

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

Isaiah 49:25

49:25 Indeed,” says the Lord,

“captives will be taken from a warrior;

spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.

I will oppose your adversary

and I will rescue your children.

Isaiah 52:3

52:3 For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you will not be redeemed for money.”

[25:40]  ¹ tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.

[25:41]  ² tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.

[25:41]  ³ tn Heb “may go out from you.”

[25:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers.”

[21:2]  ⁵ sn See H. L. Elleson, “The Hebrew Slave: A Study in Early Israelite Society,” EvQ 45 (1973): 30-35; N. P. Lemche, “The Manumission of Slaves – The Fallow Year – The Sabbatical Year – The Jobel Year,” VT 26 (1976): 38-59, and “The ‘Hebrew Slave,’ Comments on the Slave Law – Ex. 21:2-11,” VT 25 (1975): 129-44.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn The verbs in both the conditional clause and the following ruling are imperfect tense: “If you buy…then he will serve.” The second imperfect tense (the ruling) could be taken either as a specific future or an obligatory imperfect. Gesenius explains how the verb works in the conditional clauses here (see GKC 497 §159.bb).

[21:2]  ⁷ sn The interpretation of “Hebrew” in this verse is uncertain: (l) a gentilic ending, (2) a fellow Israelite, (3) or a class of mercenaries of the population (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:431). It seems likely that the term describes someone born a Hebrew, as opposed to a foreigner (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 210). The literature on this includes: M. P. Gray, “The Habiru-Hebrew Problem,” HUCA 29 (1958): 135-202.

[21:2]  ⁸ sn The word חָפְשִׁי (khofshi) means “free.” It is possible that there is some connection between this word and a technical term used in other cultures for a social class of emancipated slaves who were freemen again (see I. Mendelsohn, “New Light on the Hupsu,” BASOR 139 [1955]: 9-11).

[21:2]  ⁹ tn The adverb חִנָּם (hinnam) means “gratis, free”; it is related to the verb “to be gracious, show favor” and the noun “grace.”

[21:3]  ¹⁰ tn The tense is imperfect, but in the conditional clause it clearly refers to action that is anterior to the action in the next clause. Heb “if he comes in single, he goes out single,” that is, “if he came in single, he will go out single.”

[21:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with his back” meaning “alone.”

[21:3]  ¹² tn The phrase says, “if he was the possessor of a wife”; the noun בַּעַל (ba’al) can mean “possessor” or “husband.” If there was a wife, she shared his fortunes or his servitude; if he entered with her, she would accompany him when he left.

[49:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.

[49:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”

[49:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).