Deuteronomy 15:17-19

Contemporary English Version

¹⁷Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women.

¹⁸Don't complain when you have to set a slave free. After all, you got six years of service at half the cost of hiring someone to do the work.^[a]

First-Born Animals

(Leviticus 27.26,27; Numbers 18.15-18)

Moses said to Israel:

¹⁹^(A) If the first-born animal of a cow or sheep or goat is a male, it must be given to the Lord. Don't put first-born cattle to work or cut wool from first-born sheep.

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Footnotes

15.18 six years … work: Or “six years of service, and it cost you no more than if you had hired someone to do the work”; or “six years of service, for what you would have had to pay a worker for two years.”