Deuteronomy 23:15
in Deuteronomy 23Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a servant that is escaped from his master unto thee:
KJV
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The case in question is that of a slave who fled from a pagan master to the holy land. It is of course assumed that the refugee was not flying from justice, but only from the tyranny of his lord.
This site's exposition
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master
on Deuteronomy 23:15-18
The runaway is not returned, which reverses the codes around Israel, since the laws of Hammurabi put to death the man who hid a fugitive slave and paid a reward to whoever brought one in. He settles where it liketh him best, in the place which he shall choose, and chapters 12 to 26 use that phrase fifteen times of the place which the Lord shall choose. Barnes and Keil both read the case as a slave escaping a foreign master into Israel rather than one Hebrew fleeing another. Verses 17 and 18 bar prostitution kept at a shrine and bar its wages from the house of the Lord for any vow, and Gill notes that the word rendered whore is the ordinary word for a consecrated woman turned to its opposite.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The angel bid Hagar return to her mistress, and Paul sent Onesimus back to his master Philemon, because they had neither of them any cause to go away, nor was either of them exposed to any danger in returning. But the servant here is supposed to escape, that is, to run for his life, to the people of Israel, of whom he had heard (as Benhadad of the kings of Israel, 1 Kings xx.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thou shall not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt not deliver - the servant which is escaped - unto thee - That is, a servant who left an idolatrous master that he might join himself to God and to his people. In any other case, it would have been injustice to have harboured the runaway.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַסְגִּ֥יר | tasgir | you will deliver up | H5462 → | |
| עֶ֖בֶד | ʾeved | a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֑יו | ʾadonav | master<s> his | H113 → | 333 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִנָּצֵ֥ל | yinatzel | he will deliver himself | H5337 → | 212 times |
| אֵלֶ֖יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֵעִ֥ם | meim | from with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֲדֹנָֽיו׃ | ʾadonav | master<s> his | H113 → | 333 times |
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תַסְגִּ֥ירyou will deliver up
tasgirH5462 →
עֶ֖בֶדa slave
ʾevedH5650 →799 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֲדֹנָ֑יוmaster<s> his
ʾadonavH113 →333 times
אֲשֶׁר־who
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
יִנָּצֵ֥לhe will deliver himself
yinatzelH5337 →212 times
אֵלֶ֖יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
מֵעִ֥םfrom with
meimH5973 →1050 times
אֲדֹנָֽיו׃master<s> his
ʾadonavH113 →333 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 30:15“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked. And the man replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 29:6
So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright in my sight, and it seems right that you should march in and out with me in…
- Ezekiel 17:16
‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who enthroned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.
- Ezekiel 17:13
He took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land,
- Joshua 2:12
Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign
- Ezekiel 17:19
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, I will bring down upon his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.
- 1 Samuel 29:6
Through
Obadiah 1:14Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.
it leads to
- Amos 1:9
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant…
- Genesis 35:3
Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
- Psalms 31:8
You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
- Amos 1:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.