Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice ¹  the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Josiah also got rid of ¹  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ²  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ³  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁴  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands ¹  and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, ²  for he loved agriculture. ³ 

So the Lord God expelled him ¹  from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.

Then she gave birth ¹  to his brother Abel. ²  Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. ³ 

The Israelite foremen saw ¹  that they ²  were in trouble when they were told, ³  “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks.”

But the magicians of Egypt did the same ¹  by their secret arts, and so ²  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ⁴  – just as the Lord had predicted.

When ¹  the magicians attempted ²  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals.

The magicians said ¹  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ²  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. ¹  You must not withhold ²  the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning.

Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits ¹  to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God.

“‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ²  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ³  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

“‘A man or woman who ¹  has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit ²  must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; ³  their blood guilt is on themselves.’”

“‘No lay person ¹  may eat anything holy. Neither a priest’s lodger ²  nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy,

Also you may buy slaves ¹  from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are ²  with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.

He must be with the one who bought him ¹  like a yearly hired worker. ²  The one who bought him ³  must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, ¹  anyone who practices divination, ²  an omen reader, ³  a soothsayer, ⁴  a sorcerer, ⁵ 

Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. ¹  Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor. ² 

He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use.