42. This is because the Israelites are my servants. I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They must not become slaves again.
43. You must not rule this person cruelly. You must respect your God.
44. “‘You may buy men and women slaves from other nations around you.
45. Also you may buy children as slaves. These children must come from the families of foreigners living in your land. These child slaves will belong to you.
46. You may even pass these foreign slaves on to your children after you die. You can make them slaves forever. But you must not rule cruelly over your own brothers, the Israelites.
47. “‘A foreigner or visitor among you might become rich. And someone in your country might become poor. The poor man might sell himself as a slave to a foreigner living among you. Or he might sell himself to a member of a foreigner’s family.