Exodus 21:2

¹ “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

³ If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him.

⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.
KJV: If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
WEB: “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
ASV: If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
DARBY: If thou buy a Hebrew bondman, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
BLB: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out as the free for nothing.

ÅB: Når du kjøper en hebraisk slave, skal han tjene i seks år; men i det syvende skal han gis fri uten vederlag.
OTB: «Hvis du anskaffer en hebraisk tjener, skal han tjene i seks år; men i det syvende året skal han løslates som en fri mann, uten noen betaling.
B1930: Når du kjøper en hebraisk træl, skal han tjene i seks år; men i det syvende skal han gis fri uten vederlag.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Deuteronomy 15:12–15
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.
Read in context
Exodus 12:44
But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 15:18
Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
Read in context
Nehemiah 5:1–5
About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 15:1
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
Read in context
Nehemiah 5:8
and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
Read in context
Leviticus 25:39–45
If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
Read in context
Exodus 22:3
But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.
Read in context