What Does Deuteronomy 15:16 Mean?
And it shall be, when he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you and your house, and it is good for him with you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;THE KEY
Love and a good life with the household explain the servant’s refusal to leave, but they do not release him from service.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a living tension: you can be loved, your household can be a source of good, and the person who stays can still be a servant. Love and benefit name what makes him remain; they do not erase his status.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
That love or satisfaction automatically makes a bond free: the verse holds affection and well-being beside continued servitude.
THE ROOT
אֵצֵא
’etse
GROWS FROM
יצא
to go out, come forth, or emerge
The verb literally means “go out,” so his refusal names a departure from the household. The same root can describe an outlet or point of emergence, keeping the possibility of exit inside the very word he refuses.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: to go out, come forth
יָצָא
This is the verb’s root form: “go away” here carries the sense of going out.
motsa: outlet, point of departure
מוֹצָא
This related word makes the threshold implicit in “I will not go out” more visible.
אֲהֵבְךָ
’ahavkha
GROWS FROM
אהב
to love, to be attached to
“loveth” in this verse is ’ahavkha. The verse names love for both you and your house, so the attachment reaches beyond one person to the whole household. This love is set beside what is good for him, making affection and lived benefit two distinct reasons for staying.
ALSO GROWS
ahavah: love
אַהֲבָה
This noun from the same root names the affection behind the servant’s words.
ahuv: beloved
אָהוּב
This branch points to the relational bond that makes staying meaningful.
טוֹב
tov
GROWS FROM
טוב
good, beneficial, pleasing
The Hebrew says it is good for him with you. The verse places that experienced good beside love, so remaining is tied both to affection and to how life in the household feels to him.
ALSO GROWS
tovah: goodness, benefit
טוֹבָה
This related noun keeps the word’s sense of good and benefit close to the servant’s reason for staying.
heitiv: to do good, deal well
הֵיטִיב
This verb from the same root links “good” with what is experienced or done in a relationship.
THE PATTERN
Attachment takes the form of remaining with the person or place one values.
And Ruth said, Do not press me to let go of you, or to turn back from following after you. For where you walk, I will walk, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people are my people, and your God my God.For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God rather than dwell in the tents of wickedness.As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.THE THREAD
And if the servant says plainly, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free."Exodus uses the same roots for love (אָהַב, ahav) and go out (יָצָא, yatsa), pairing them in the servant’s words: “I love” and “I will not go out free.” That shared wording places Deuteronomy’s refusal at the same seam between attachment and release.
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