What Does Deuteronomy 15:17 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The ear is pierced at the household’s door, making the servant’s continuing bond bodily visible even when release is available.
THE MEANING
The verse places a servant’s refusal to leave beside a physical mark at the household threshold, after which he remains in service. The same procedure reaches the maidservant. The pierced ear makes this an embodied household bond, not an abstract image of devotion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that an appointed release ends every bond: the passage also describes a refusal followed by a mark and continuing service.
THE ROOT
עֶבֶד
ʿeved
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To serve, work, or labor.
The root holds service and labor together, so “servant” here carries the weight of a concrete bond to a household. The pierced ear and doorway show that bond in the body and at the household’s threshold.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvad: To serve or work.
עָבַד
The verb uses the same root as “servant,” linking the person’s status to the ongoing act of service.
ʿavodah: Labor or service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch keeps the physical labor within the word’s range, making the bond in the verse more concrete than a figure for inward devotion.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts service as a bond made legible through a person’s relation to the one they serve.
Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.Deuteronomy calls the man עֶבֶד (ʿeved, servant), while Exodus uses the same עבד (ʿ-b-d, serve/work) root in “he shall serve him.” The matching ear-to-door act makes the shared household bond visible.
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