Leviticus 25:35-46

Kindness for Poor Brothers

35 "If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, 1you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
36 2Take no interest from him or profit, but 3fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.
37 4You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
38 5I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39 6"If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave:
40 he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee.
41 7Then he shall go out from you, 8he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return 9to the possession of his fathers.
42 For they are 10my servants,[a] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.
43 11You shall not rule over him 12ruthlessly but 13shall fear your God.
44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you.
45 14You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property.
46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel 15you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Deuteronomy 15:7, 8; [Psalms 41:1; Psalms 112:5, 9; Proverbs 14:31; Acts 11:29; 1 John 3:17]
  • 2. See Exodus 22:25
  • 3. ver. 17, 43; Nehemiah 5:9; [Malachi 3:5]
  • 4. [See ver. 36 above]
  • 5. ver. 42, 55; Leviticus 22:32, 33; Leviticus 26:13
  • 6. Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; 1 Kings 9:22; 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5
  • 7. [See ver. 28 above]
  • 8. [Exodus 21:3]
  • 9. ver. 13, 28
  • 10. ver. 55; [Romans 6:22; 1 Corinthians 7:23]
  • 11. [Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1]
  • 12. Exodus 1:13, 14; Ezekiel 34:4
  • 13. ver. 17, 36
  • 14. Isaiah 14:1, 2; Isaiah 56:3, 6
  • 15. Exodus 1:13, 14; Ezekiel 34:4

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.