“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’”
Exodus 21:5 (BSB)
Context Reading
3If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ 6then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life. 7And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.