Deuteronomy 15:17

Summary

This verse continues a legal procedure for a Hebrew servant who chooses to stay with his master permanently: the master takes an awl, puts it through the servant's ear and into the door, and the servant becomes his slave le-olam ("perpetuity", H5769). The same procedure applies equally to a female servant.

Key words

• mar.Tze.a' ("awl", H4836) — a masculine singular noun naming the instrument used in the ritual act.
• na.ta.Tah ("you will put", H5414) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain begun by la.kach.Ta ("you will take"), describing the next required action rather than merely "piercing."
• 'E.ved 'o.Lam ("slave of perpetuity", H5650 + H5769) — a construct pair; 'E.ved is bound to 'o.Lam, so the phrase functions as "a perpetual slave" rather than two separate nouns.
• ta.'a.seh ("you will do", H6213) — qal imperfect, marking ongoing/future obligation, distinct from the preceding sequential perfects that narrate a fixed sequence of acts.
• 'a.ma.te.kha ("your maidservant", H0519 construct + H9021 suffix) — feminine construct noun with possessive suffix, extending the rule to a female servant.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of verbs joined by the narrative ve ("and", H9001): la.kach.Ta ("you will take"), na.ta.Tah ("you will put"), and ha.Yah ("he will be", H1961), all in the sequential perfect form that Biblical Hebrew uses to narrate a series of consecutive actions following an initial command. This grammatical chaining presents the taking of the awl, the placing of it at the ear and door, and the resulting permanent status as one continuous procedure rather than isolated instructions.

Notably, the Hebrew verb used with the awl is na.ta.Tah ("you will put/give," H5414), not a verb meaning "pierce." The Hebrew phrase literally reads "you will put [it] in his ear and in the door," letting the physical action of piercing be inferred from the placement of the awl between ear and door, rather than stating it directly.

The clause ve-'af la-'amatekha ta'aseh ken ("and also to your maidservant you will do thus") shifts to an imperfect verb, ta.'a.seh ("you will do," H6213), marking a general applicable instruction rather than a step in the narrated sequence — extending the same treatment to the female servant.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the action explicitly as τρυπήσεις ("you will pierce") and πρὸς τὴν θύραν ("toward the door"), making explicit what the Hebrew na.ta.Tah ("you will put") only implies. The Vulgate similarly adds perforabis ("you will pierce"). For 'E.ved 'o.Lam ("slave of perpetuity," H5650/H5769), the LXX uses οἰκέτης εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ("household servant forever"), while the Vulgate has serviet... usque in æternum ("he will serve... until eternity") — both convey permanence but differ from the Hebrew's compact construct phrase "slave of perpetuity."