A slave is one who is the property of another, sometimes purchased in the slave markets. Nations defeated in war were frequently transported to other lands and sold as slaves. The great civilisations of Bible times operated on a system of slavery. Slaves were usually given the hardest work, but some were skilled men, well educated, and were given responsibility by their masters who valued their services. Two individual Old Testament examples were Joseph, the son of Jacob who was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers (in Genesis ch.39), and the Israelite slave girl who told Naaman the Syrian that the prophet Elisha could cure him of his leprosy (in 2 Kings 5:2-5).

The Mosaic Law protected slaves from gross cruelty, and they were allowed to have a share in the social and religious life of the nation. The New Testament includes Paul's letter to Philemon, asking him to take back and treat kindly his runaway slave who had become a Christian, and was therefore now also his brother. Paul speaks in terms of slavery when he tells us to do something not possible in the material world-to change our masters-to serve God, and not sin: "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness!" (Romans 6:17-18).

Both Hebrew and Greek words for 'slave' are more frequently translated 'servant'. The KJV always has 'servant'.