Misinterpretations often portray this as endorsing harsh, indefinite slavery akin to ancient chattel systems, ignoring its temporary, protective nature for debt-bound Hebrews with redemption rights and Jubilee liberation; others wrongly apply it to justify modern debt peonage or unequal labor pricing without the covenantal context of Israel's sabbatical and jubilee laws, which aimed at restoring land and family inheritance rather than perpetual servitude.
Leviticus 25:50
King James Version (1769)
50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
This passage details the equitable process for redeeming a Hebrew servant sold due to poverty, stipulating that the buyback price be calculated from the year of sale to the year of redemption—typically the Jubilee—proportional to the remaining years and equivalent to the wages of a hired servant, ensuring fairness by compensating only for actual service rendered and upholding the principle that Israelites are brothers, not perpetual slaves, with ultimate freedom guaranteed in the Jubilee year.