Deuteronomy 15:12

12 If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and [he or she] has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person [out] {free}.

Deuteronomy 15:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 15:12

And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
unto thee
By others, as by the sanhedrim for theft, for which a man might be sold, but not a woman, as Jarchi observes; but then a father might sell his daughter for an handmaid, if little and under age; and to such cases this law is supposed to refer; see ( Exodus 21:2 Exodus 21:7 ) ( 22:3 ) though a man on account of poverty might sell himself:

and serve thee six years;
as he was bound to do, if his master lived so long; if he died before the six years were out, he was obliged to serve his son, but not his daughter, nor his brother, nor his heirs, as the Jewish writers affirm ^F7: then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee; that is, at the end of the sixth, and beginning of the seventh year; see ( Exodus 21:2 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin. c. 1. sect. 2.

Deuteronomy 15:12 In-Context

10 By all means you must give to him, and {you must not be discontented} at your giving to him, because on account of this [very] thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and {in all that you undertake}.

11 For the poor will not cease to be {among you} [in] the land; therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor [that are] in your land.'

12 If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and [he or she] has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person [out] {free}.

13 And when you send him [out] free from you, you shall not send him [away] empty-handed.

14 You shall generously supply him from [among] your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; [according to] that [with which] Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "brother"
• [b] Literally "free from with you"