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Deuteronomy 15:17

in Deuteronomy 15

then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.

KJV

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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This verse in Deuteronomy 15

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

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.

This site's exposition

But if your servant says to you

on Deuteronomy 15:16-17

The servant's reason is love of the master and the house, so a bond for life rests on his own words. Verse 17 extends it to the maidservant.

This site's exposition

take an awl and pierce

John Wesley reads for life as the whole of the servant's life, or at least until the year of jubilee. Leviticus 25:41 sends him home at the jubilee. Wesley applies the last clause both ways for the maidservant, a generous release or the same rite at the door.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Here is an addition to this law, requiring them to put some small stock into their servants' hands to set up with for themselves, when they sent them out of their service,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Thou shalt take an awl - See the note on Exo 21:6.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְלָקַחְתָּ֣and you will take

    velakachtaH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּרְצֵ֗עַthe awl

    hamartzea'H4836 →

  • וְנָתַתָּ֤הand you will put [it]

    venatatahH5414 →2011 times

  • בְאָזְנוֹ֙in ear his

    veazenoH241 →187 times

  • וּבַדֶּ֔לֶתand in the door

    uvadeletH1817 →

  • וְהָיָ֥הand he will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • לְךָ֖of you

    lekha

  • עֶ֣בֶדa slave of

    ʾevedH5650 →799 times

  • עוֹלָ֑םperpetuity

    olamH5769 →438 times

  • וְאַ֥ףand also

    veafH637 →134 times

  • לַאֲמָתְךָ֖to maidservant your

    laamatekhaH519 →56 times

  • תַּעֲשֶׂה־you will do

    taaseh-H6213 →2628 times

  • כֵּֽן׃thus

    kenH3651 →771 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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 1:22

    but Hannah did not go. “After the boy is weaned,” she said to her husband, “I will take him to appear before the LORD and to stay there permanently.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 1:11

      And she made a vow, pleading, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then…

    • 1 Samuel 1:28

      I now dedicate the boy to the LORD. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the LORD.” So they worshiped the LORD there.

    • Luke 2:22

      And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

    • 1 Samuel 2:11

      Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.

    • Deuteronomy 16:16

      Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast…

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 15 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 15 →