What Does Leviticus 25:53 Mean in the King James?
And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.
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 verse draws a line between service and ownership: authority may last for a term, but it may not become crushing force.
THE MEANING
When someone serves under your authority, their service does not erase the boundary around their personhood. “In thy sight” makes you a witness: the work remains visible, and rule cannot quietly become crushing force.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a person’s service places them entirely at the disposal of whoever holds power over them.
THE ROOT
פָּרֶךְ
pāreḵ
GROWS FROM
פרך
p-r-k
To break apart or crush; as pāreḵ (פָּרֶךְ), crushing harshness.
“Rigour” carries the sense of severity, while the Hebrew root adds the image of crushing. The boundary is against power that breaks down the person serving.
ALSO GROWS
pāreḵ: Crushing severity; harshness.
פָּרֶךְ
Here, this noun names the prohibited manner of rule.
bəpāreḵ: With crushing harshness.
בְּפָרֶךְ
Exodus 1:13 uses this form for imposed labor, showing the same word marking service turned into oppression.
שָׂכִיר
sākîr
GROWS FROM
שכר
ś-k-r
To hire or pay wages; the root joins service to an agreed wage.
“hired servant” in this verse is sākîr. The Hebrew word keeps the worker connected to hire and wages, rather than making service sound like ownership. Alongside the ban on crushing rule, it frames the relationship as bounded work, not unlimited possession.
ALSO GROWS
sākîr: A hired worker.
שָׂכִיר
This is the word used for the servant whose service is measured year by year.
sākār: Wages or hire.
שָׂכָר
Its connection to the hired worker keeps the passage’s image anchored in paid service.
THE PATTERN
Service never gives authority the right to crush the person who serves.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.THE THREAD
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:The same Hebrew noun pāreḵ (פָּרֶךְ, crushing harshness) appears in the phrase rendered “with rigour.” Its force makes the boundary unmistakable: rule has crossed the line when it crushes the person serving.
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