This verse provides two additional details with regard to the foreign slaves mentioned in the previous verse. To speak of “the nations that are round about you” (verse 44) seems to exclude foreigners living within the land of Israel. But the words of this verse, among the strangers who sojourn with you …, clearly indicate that they may also be taken as slaves. And to avoid the impression that this concerned only newly-arrived foreigners, the writer also adds and their families … who have been born in your land.

There are therefore three categories of foreigners who could become slaves in Israel:
1. Those living in the surrounding countries (verse 44).
2. Those who personally immigrated into the land of Israel (verse 45a).
3. Those whose ancestors had earlier immigrated into Israel (verse 45b).

Buy: the Revised Standard Version rendering does not provide an object for this verb, but it may be understood to be “slaves.” Good News Translation omits the preposition from and takes the object to be “the children of the foreigners” (leaving “as slaves” implicit here).

From among the strangers who sojourn with you: literally “from the sons of the foreigners.” This may be understood in its more literal sense, “the children of the foreigners” (Good News Translation, New English Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible), but it is also possible that “sons of” in this case merely means “members of a group” (compare 1.5 and 1.14). The emphasis is not necessarily on the age of these foreigners born in the land.

They may be your property: this phrase emphasizes the difference between the foreigner who becomes a slave, and a fellow Israelite who is required by difficult circumstances to work for a time for his countryman. An Israelite is never really the property of his fellow Israelite.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .