The Hebrew word _Mickna_ is an illustration. It is a derivative of _Kana_, to procure, to buy, and its meaning is, a _possession, wealth, riches_. It occurs more than forty times in the Old Testament--and is applied always to _mere property_--generally to domestic animals, but _never_ to servants. In some instances, servants are mentioned in _distinction_ from the _Mickna._ See Gen. xii. 5. _"And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son. And all their_ SUBSTANCE _that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan_." _Substance gathered_ and _souls gotten_! Many will have it, that these _souls_ were a part of Abraham's _substance_ (notwithstanding the pains here taken to separate them from it)--that they were _slaves_--probably captives in war, and now, by right of conquest, taken with him in his migration as part of his family effects. Who but slaveholders, either actually, or in heart, would torture into the principle and practice of slavery, such a harmless phrase as "_the souls that they had gotten_?" Until the slave trade breathed its haze upon the vision of the church, and smote her with palsy and decay, commentators saw no slavery in, "The souls that they had gotten." In the Targum of Onkelos[A] it is thus rendered, "The souls whom they had brought to obey the law in Haran." In the Targum of Jonathan, thus: "The souls whom they had made proselytes in Haran." In the Targum of Jerusalem, "The souls proselyted in Haran." Jarchi, placed by Jewish Rabbis at the head of their commentators, thus renders it: "The souls whom they had brought under the Divine wings." Jerome, one of the most learned of the Christian fathers: "The persons whom they had proselyted." The Persian version thus gives the whole verse, "And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their wealth which they had accumulated, and the souls which they had _made_." The Vulgate version thus translates it, "Universam substantiam quam possederant et animas quas fecerant in Haran." "The entire wealth which they possessed, and the souls which they had made." The Syriac thus, "All their possessions which they possessed, and the souls which they had made in Haran." The Arabic, "All their property which they had acquired, and the souls whom they had made in Haran." The Samarian, "All the wealth which they had gathered, and the souls which they had made in Haran." Menochius, a commentator who wrote before our present translation of the English Bible, renders it as follows:--"Quas de idolotraria converterunt[B]." "Those whom they have converted from idolatry."--Paulus Fagius[C]. "Quas instituerant in religione."--"Those whom they had instructed in religion."--Luke Franke, a German commentator who lived two centuries ago. "Quas legi subjicerant."--"Those whom they had brought to obey the law."