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Leviticus 25:44

in Leviticus 25

Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

KJV

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

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This verse in Leviticus 25

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have,.... Such it seems were allowed them, if they had need of them; but if they had them, they were to be not of the nation of Israel, but of other nations; this is an anticipation of an objection, as Jarchi observes; if so, who shall I have to minister to me?

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It intimates that none shall have the benefit of the gospel jubilee but those only that are Israelites indeed, and the children of Abraham by faith: as for those that continue heathenish, they continue bondmen. See this turned upon the unbelieving Jews themselves, Gal. iv. 25 , where Jerusalem, when she had rejected Christ, is said to be in bondage with her children.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Property in foreign slaves is here distinctly permitted. It was a patriarchal custom Gen 17:12. Such slaves might be captives taken in war (Num 31:6 following; Deu 20:14), or those consigned to slavery for their crimes, or those purchased of foreign slave-dealers. The price of a slave is supposed to have varied from thirty to fifty shekels. See Lev 27:3-4, note; Exo 21:32, note; Zec 11:12-13, note; Mat 26:15, note. It was the object of Moses, not at once to do away with slavery, but to discourage and to mitigate it.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְעַבְדְּךָ֥and [male] slave your

    veavdekhaH5650 →799 times

  • וַאֲמָתְךָ֖and female slave your

    vaamatekhaH519 →56 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יִהְיוּ־they will belong

    yihyu-H1961 →3559 times

  • לָ֑ךְto <the> you

    lakh

  • מֵאֵ֣תfrom with

    meetH854 →929 times

  • הַגּוֹיִ֗םthe nations

    hagoyimH1471 →561 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • סְבִיבֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם[are] around you

    sevivoteikhemH5439 →336 times

  • מֵהֶ֥םfrom <the> them

    mehem

  • תִּקְנ֖וּyou will buy

    tiknuH7069 →84 times

  • עֶ֥בֶדa [male] slave

    ʾevedH5650 →799 times

  • וְאָמָֽה׃and a female slave

    veamahH519 →56 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

2 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 12:44

    But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 17:12–13

      Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.

    • Genesis 17:23

      On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God…

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 25 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Leviticus 25 →