What Does Leviticus 25:39 Mean in the King James?

And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:

Leviticus 25:39 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Poverty may place a brother in your hands, but it does not turn him into a slave.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks of a brother brought low and sold to you: his need and changed circumstances do not erase the kinship named here. His labor may be received, but it must not become the labor of a slave.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that buying someone makes that person wholly yours and permits any kind of labor.

THE ROOT

עָבַד

ʿāvad

GROWS FROM

עבד

ʿ-b-d

To work or serve.

“serve as a bondservant” in this verse is ʿāvad. The Hebrew repeats this root in “serve” (⁨תַעֲבֹד⁩, taʿăvōd) and “service” (⁨עֲבֹדַת⁩, ʿăvōdat), then names the prohibited status as “slave” (⁨עֶבֶד⁩, ʿeved). That repetition draws the boundary around the kind of service: the sale does not make slave-service permissible.

ALSO GROWS

ʿeved: A person who serves; the word can refer to a servant or a slave.

עֶבֶד

This is the status the verse refuses to impose on the brother, despite his being sold.

ʿăvōdāh: Work or service.

עֲבֹדָה

The verse uses this form for the “service” of a slave, marking the labor that the sale does not authorize.

THE PATTERN

Economic dependence does not erase kinship or authorize slave-status labor.

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 · KJVThe person sold remains a brother, and the service has a stated limit.

For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

Leviticus 25:42 · KJVThe verse grounds the limit on slave status in a prior belonging that the sale cannot erase.

Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?

Philemon 1:16 · KJVThe person held as a servant is named as a beloved brother, so the relationship exceeds the labor role.

THE THREAD

For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

Leviticus 25:42 · KJV

“Servants” here is ⁨עֲבָדַי⁩ (ʿăvādai, my servants), from the same ⁨עבד⁩ root as “serve” and “service” in verse 39. The shared root sets a limit around the sale: a human claim cannot recast the brother as slave property when the text names him as God’s servant.

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