1 "Here are the laws you must explain to the people of Israel.
2 "Suppose you buy a Hebrew servant. He must serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, you must set him free. He does not have to pay anything.
3 "If he does not have a wife when he comes, he must go free alone. But if he has a wife when he comes, she must go with him.
4 Suppose his master gives him a wife. And suppose she has sons or daughters by him. Then only the man will go free. The woman and her children will belong to her master.
5 "But suppose the servant says, 'I love my master and my wife and children. I don't want to go free.'
6 Then his master must take him to the judges. He must be taken to the door or doorpost of his master's house. His master must poke a hole through his ear lobe into the doorpost. Then he will become his servant for life.