Leviticus 25:45

45 You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property.

Leviticus 25:45 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:45

Moreover, of the children of the strangers, that do sojourn
among you
The uncircumcised sojourners as they are called in the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, proselytes of the gate, such of the nations round about who came and sojourned among them, being subject to the precepts given to the sons of Noah respecting idolatry but were not circumcised, and did not embrace the Jewish religion: of them shall ye buy;
for bondmen and bondmaids: and of their families that [are] with you, which they begat in your
land;
but, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, are not of the Canaanites; though the Jewish writers ^F24 say, that one of the nations that lies with a Canaanitish woman, and begets a son of her, he may be bought for a servant; and so if a Canaanitish man lies with one of the nations, and begets a son of her, he may also be bought for a servant: and they shall be your possession;
as servants, as bondmen and bondmaids, and be so for ever to them and their heirs, as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Torat Cohanim apud Yalkut, par. 1. fol. 195. 1.

Leviticus 25:45 In-Context

43 You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall 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 round about you.

45 You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families 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 for ever; you may make slaves of them, but over your brethren the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

47 "If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger's family,