What does the Bible say about slavery?

THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

1. QUESTION

What does the Bible say about slavery? Specifically, what do the retrieved biblical texts reveal about the institution of servitude, its regulations, and its theological framing?

2. PRIMARY TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Regulations Concerning Hebrew Servants:

"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing." — Exodus 21:2 (KJV)

"And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee." — Deuteronomy 15:12 (KJV)

"That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother." — Jeremiah 34:9 (KJV)

Provisions Concerning Non-Hebrew Bondservants:

"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." — Leviticus 25:44 (KJV)

Case Law Involving Bondmaids:

"And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free." — Leviticus 19:20 (KJV)

Prophetic Condemnation of Covenant-Breaking:

"But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids." — Jeremiah 34:16 (KJV)

New Testament Instructions:

"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." — 1 Timothy 6:1 (KJV)

"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God." — Colossians 3:22 (KJV)

"Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant." — 1 Corinthians 7:21–22 (KJV)

Theological Reframing of Servitude:

"O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds." — Psalm 116:16 (KJV)

3. LINGUISTIC/HISTORICAL DATA (from texts provided)

The retrieved texts use several distinct terms in the KJV:

• "Servant" (עֶבֶד / δοῦλος) — used broadly for both Hebrew debt-servants and chattel bondservants
• "Bondman/bondmaid" — appears to denote permanent or foreign-origin servitude (Leviticus 25:44)
• "Homeborn slave" — referenced rhetorically in Jeremiah 2:14

The texts distinguish between:

1. Hebrew servitude — time-limited (6 years), with mandated release (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12)
2. Non-Hebrew bondservants — acquired from surrounding nations (Leviticus 25:44)

4. SCHOLARLY POSITIONS (as suggested by the texts)

The retrieved passages suggest at least two textual observations that interpreters must address:

1. Old Testament texts regulate rather than prohibit servitude, distinguishing between Israelite and non-Israelite persons in terms of duration

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: retrieved texts do not resolve this question explicitly.