then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.
Parallel Translations
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then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.
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Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.
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then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear and into the door, and he shall be thy bondman for ever. And also unto thy bondwoman thou shalt do likewise.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 15:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 25:39-42 “ ‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.
- 1 Samuel 1:22 But Hannah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there forever.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To the year of Jubilee, Lev. 25:40.
To the year of Jubilee, Lev. 25:40.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For ever, i.e. all the time of his life,…
For ever, i.e. all the time of his life, or, at least, till the year of jubilee. See on Exo 21:6.
Unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise, i.e. either dismiss her honourably, and with plenty of provisions; or engage her to perpetual servitude in the same manner, and by the same rites; whence it appears that this case differs from that Exo 21:7, and that the maid-servant there was taken in upon other and better terms than this here.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it…
Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door,.... Not of his master's house, but of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, according to the Targum of Jonathan, before whom he was to be brought, and declare his desire to continue with his master; See Gill on Exo 21:6,
and he shall be thy servant for ever; that is, unto the jubilee, as the same Targum; for then all servants were released, and so Jarchi calls it the ever of jubilee:
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and also unto thy maidservant thou shall do likewise; not bore her ear, for, as both Jarchi and Aben Ezra, and others say, she was not to be bored; though some are of opinion that a maidservant who was willing to continue with her master was to be bored as a manservant; but this respects the manner of dismissing her, or letting her go free, when she was not to go empty, but to be liberally furnished and supplied, as a manservant was.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain For ever - All the time of his life,…
For ever - All the time of his life, or, at least, 'till the year of jubilee. Likewise - That is, either dismiss her with plenty, or engage her to perpetual servitude, in the same manner and by the same rites.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. Thou shalt take an awl] See Clarke…
Verse 17. Thou shalt take an awl] See Clarke on Ex 21:6.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain House, before a judge. It is supposed that this…
House, before a judge. It is supposed that this law regarded only those who had sold themselves, or had been condemned to be slaves. (Fagius) --- For ever; that is, till the year of jubilee. --- Also, not by piercing her ear, as some have thought, but by setting her at liberty, and giving her something, ver. 14.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. Take an awl, and thrust it through his…
17. Take an awl, and thrust it through his ear — The bored ears constituted a badge of slavery.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. thou shalt take an awl] Lit. a borer,…
17. thou shalt take an awl] Lit. a borer, only here and in Exo_21:6.
and thrust it through his ear] Lit. set, or give, it; E, bore or pierce his ear. His ear because it is the organ of obedience. Cp. Psa_40:6, mine ears thou hast opened; Isa_50:4 f., morning by morning he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the taught … The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear. In the Code of Ḫammurabi (§ 282) the slave who denies his master has his ear cut off.
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unto the door] E, to the door or doorpost, i.e. of his master’s house. See Driver on Exo_21:6, and the meaning of the other phrase there, to the Elohim, which D omits, whether because it means the local sanctuary, abolished by D’s law, or some domestic image of deity, still more repugnant to D. See Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, 210.
thy bondman for ever] i.e. for life; ‘again a good example of the relative force of the Heb. phrase for ever’ (Berth.).
And also unto thy bondwoman, etc.] See introd. note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) And unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise—i.e.,…
(17) And unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise—i.e., “in furnishing her liberally” (Rashi), and “possibly also in retaining her if she will.”
It must not be supposed that this contradicts Exo_21:7, “She shall not go out as the menservants do.” She shall not go out according to the going of the men-servants (i.e., on the same principle). It is not said, She shall not go out at all. The exceptions are given in Exo_21:8-11, which see. The general right of release is stated here. One difference (as stated by Rashi) is that women were not liable to be sold for theft like men, but might be sold by their parents in infancy. If the girl were not marriageable when the first Sabbatical year arrived, she would obtain her freedom absolutely, because the case contemplated in Exo_21:8-10 could not possibly arise. And, generally, we may suppose that the rights of an unmarried female slave would be the same as those of a man, to go out free in the seventh year. (See Jer_34:9.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:17 push it through his earlobe: This disfigurement publicly…
15:17 push it through his earlobe: This disfigurement publicly indicated that a bondservant had voluntarily indentured himself to his master for life. This might be what Paul meant when he said “I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.