Leviticus 25:53

Summary

Leviticus 25:53 describes the treatment owed to an Israelite who has sold himself as a servant to a foreign resident: he is to be treated like a hired worker employed on an annual basis, and his master must not treat him with harshness in the sight of another party (rendered "your sight" in the Hebrew).

Key words

• s.Khir ("a hired laborer of", H7916) — masculine singular adjective in construct form, meaning "hired one of," setting up the comparison "hired-laborer-of-a-year."
• yih.Yeh ("he will be", H1961) — qal imperfect of the verb "to be," expressing an ongoing or future state: the status "will be" like that of a hired worker.
• yir.De. ("he will rule over", H7287A) — qal imperfect, "he will rule/dominate," negated by lo'- ("not", H3808) to form the prohibition "he will not rule over him."
• Fe.rekh ("harshness", H6531) — masculine singular noun denoting harsh or severe treatment, the manner specifically forbidden.
• 'ei.Nei. ("eyes", H5869H) — feminine dual construct noun, "eyes of," combined with the suffix kha ("your", H9021) to form "your eyes," i.e., "in your sight."

What the text says

The verse opens with the comparative preposition ki ("like", H9004) attached to s.Khir ("a hired laborer of", H7916), which is in construct with shanah ("a year", H8141), producing the phrase "like a hired-laborer-of-a-year." This phrase is then repeated with the preposition be. ("in", H9003) before a second shanah, giving "year by year" or "from year to year," a doubling construction that expresses recurrence — the servant's status is renewed or measured annually. The verb yih.Yeh ("he will be", H1961) governs this whole comparison, stating that this status "will be with him" (i.M + suffix o, "with him", H5973A/H9033).

The second clause is built on the negated imperfect lo'-yir.De.nu ("he will not rule over him", H3808 + H7287A + H9033), followed by the prepositional phrase be.Fe.rekh ("with harshness", H9003 + H6531), specifying the manner of ruling that is prohibited. The final phrase le.'ei.Nei.kha ("to your eyes", H9005 + H5869H + H9021) uses the dual construct noun for "eyes" with a second-person masculine singular suffix, an idiom meaning "in your sight" or "in your presence" — grammatically addressing a "you" who is positioned as observer or guarantor of the servant's treatment.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew le.'ei.Nei.kha ("to your eyes", H5869H + H9021) — "in your sight" — is rendered by the LXX as ἐνώπιόν σου ("before you") and by the Vulgate as in conspectu tuo ("in your sight"), both preserving the second-person address. The BSB and SBLIBRE render the subject of yir.De. ("he will rule over", H7287A) as "a foreign owner," making explicit an identification not lexically present in the Hebrew verb form itself, which simply reads "he will not rule over him."