16. But suppose a male slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is happy with you.
17. Then take an awl and pierce it through his ear lobe into a door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same to a female slave ⌊if she doesn’t want to leave⌋.
18. If you have to let your slave go free, it won’t be a hardship for you. It would have cost you twice as much to hire someone to do the same work for those six years. Besides, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
19. You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to the Lord your God. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep.
20. Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God in the place the Lord will choose.
21. But if an animal is lame or blind or has any other serious defect—never sacrifice it to the Lord your God.
22. Eat it in your city. Clean and unclean people may eat them together as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer.
23. But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.