(1) These are the rules that you shall set before them: (2) When you acquire a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. (3) If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. (4) If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne him children, the wife and her children shall belong to the master, and he shall leave alone. (5) But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” (6) his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his master’s slave for life.(7) When someone sells their daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as other slaves do. (8) If she proves to be displeasing to her master, who designated her for himself, he must let her be redeemed; he shall not have the right to sell her to outsiders, since he broke faith with her. (9) And if the master designated her for a son, he shall deal with her as is the practice with free maidens. (10) If he takes another to wife, he must not withhold from this one her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. (11) If he fails her in these three ways, she shall go free, without payment.

(1) IF THOU BUY A HEBREW SERVANT. G-d began the first ordinance with the subject of a Hebrew servant, because the liberation of the servant in the seventh year contains a rememberance of the departure from Egypt which is mentioned in the first commandment, just as He said on it, And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Eternal thy G-d redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing today. ...This is why the prophet Jeremiah was very stringent about it and said, Thus saith the Eternal, the G-d of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers; At the end of the seven years ye shall let go every one his manservant, and every one his maidservant. And on account of its violation, G-d decreed the exile, just as the Torah decreed exile for the Sabbatical rest of the land which was not observed, as I will yet write, with the help of the Rock.

(20) When a man strikes his serf or his handmaid with a rod, so that he dies under his hand,

it is to be avenged, [The exact punishment is not specified, but it sounds like death.] yes, avenged;

(21) nonetheless, if for a day or two-days he endures,

it is not to be avenged, for he is his own ““money”.” [“He has human rights, but not those of a free man” (Plaut). Alternatively, Cassuto suggests that the master has lost his own money thereby.]

(27) If [the owner] knocks out the tooth of their slave, male or female, the slave shall go free on account of the tooth.

(20) You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (21) You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. (22) If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, (23) and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

(43) GOD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the law of the Passover offering: No foreigner shall eat of it. (44) But any [male] slave you have bought may eat of it once he has been circumcised. (45) No bound or hired laborer shall eat of it.

(10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the ETERNAL your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.

(39) If your kin under you continue in straits and must be given over to you, do not subject them to the treatment of a slave. (40)Remaining with you as a hired or bound laborer, they shall serve with you only until the jubilee year. (41)Then they, along with any children, shall be free of your authority; they shall go back to their family and return to the ancestral holding.— (42) For they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt; they may not give themselves over into servitude.— (43) You shall not rule over them ruthlessly; you shall fear your God. (44) Such male and female slaves as you may have—it is from the nations round about you that you may acquire male and female slaves. (45) You may also buy them from among the children of the resident aliens among you, or from their families that are among you, whom they begot in your land. These shall become your property:

(12) If any fellow Hebrew, man or woman, is sold to you, they shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall set them free. (13)When you set them free, do not let them go empty-handed: (14) Furnish them out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat, with which the ETERNAL your God has blessed you. (15) Bear in mind that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the ETERNAL your God redeemed you; therefore I enjoin this commandment upon you today. (16) But should they say to you, “I do not want to leave you”—for they love you and your household and are happy with you— (17) you shall take an awl and put it through their ear into the door, and they shall become your slave in perpetuity. Do this even with your female slave. (18) When you do set them free, do not feel aggrieved; for in the six years you have been given double the service of a hired worker. Moreover, the ETERNAL your God will bless you in all you do.

The baraita continues: This means that there shall not be a situation in which you eat fine bread and he eats inferior bread [kibbar], bread from coarse flour mixed with bran, which is low quality. There shall not be a situation in which you drink aged wine and he drinks inferior new wine. There shall not be a situation in which you sleep comfortably on bedding made from soft sheets and he sleeps on straw. From here the Sages stated:

Anyone who acquires a Hebrew slave is considered like one who acquires a master for himself, because he must be careful that the slave’s living conditions are equal to his own.

(8) It is permissible to have a Canaanite slave perform excruciating labor. Although this is the law, the attribute of piety and the way of wisdom is for a person to be merciful and to pursue justice, not to make his slaves carry a heavy yoke, nor cause them distress. He should allow them to partake of all the food and drink he serves. This was the practice of the Sages of the first generations who would give their slaves from every dish of which they themselves would partake. And they would provide food for their animals and slaves before partaking of their own meals. And so, it is written Psalms 123:2: "As the eyes of slaves to their master's hand, and like the eyes of a maid-servant to her mistress' hand, so are our eyes to God."
Similarly, we should not embarrass a slave by our deeds or with words, for the Torah prescribed that they perform service, not that they be humiliated. Nor should one shout or vent anger upon them extensively. Instead, one should speak to them gently, and listen to their claims. This is explicitly stated with regard to the positive paths of Job for which he was praised Job 31:13, 15: "Have I ever shunned justice for my slave and maid-servant when they quarreled with me.... Did not He who made me in the belly make him? Was it not the One who prepared us in the womb?"
Cruelty and arrogance are found only among idol-worshipping gentiles. By contrast, the descendants of Abraham our patriarch, i.e., the Jews whom the Holy One, blessed be He, granted the goodness of the Torah and commanded to observe righteous statutes and judgments, are merciful to all.
And similarly, with regard to the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, which He commanded us to emulate, it is written Psalms 145:9: "His mercies are upon all of His works." And whoever shows mercy to others will have mercy shown to him, as implied by Deuteronomy 13:18: "He will show you mercy, and be merciful upon you and multiply you."
Blessed be the Merciful One who grants assistance. This concludes the 12th book.