Deuteronomy 15:17

17 thou shalt take an awl, and thou shalt pierce (it through) his ear in(to) the door of thine house, and (then) he shall serve thee till into the world; also thou shalt do in like manner to an handmaid (and thou shalt treat a slave-girl in the same manner).

Deuteronomy 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 15:17

Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear
unto the door
Not of his master's house, but of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, according to the Targum of Jonathan, before whom he was to be brought, and declare his desire to continue with his master; (See Gill on Exodus 21:6),

and he shall be thy servant for ever;
that is, unto the jubilee, as the same Targum; for then all servants were released, and so Jarchi calls it the ever of jubilee:

and also unto thy maidservant thou shall do likewise;
not bore her ear, for, as both Jarchi and Aben Ezra, and others say, she was not to be bored; though some are of opinion that a maidservant who was willing to continue with her master was to be bored as a manservant; but this respects the manner of dismissing her, or letting her go free, when she was not to go empty, but to be liberally furnished and supplied, as a manservant was.

Deuteronomy 15:17 In-Context

15 Have thou mind that also thou servedest in the land of Egypt, and thy Lord God delivered thee, and therefore I command now (this) to thee. (Remember that thou were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God set thee free, and so now I command this to thee.)

16 But if he say, I will not go out, for he loveth thee, and thine house(hold), and he feeleth that it is well to him with thee, (But if thy slave saith, I will not leave thee, for I love thee, and thy family, and he feeleth that it is good for him to be with thee,)

17 thou shalt take an awl, and thou shalt pierce (it through) his ear in(to) the door of thine house, and (then) he shall serve thee till into the world; also thou shalt do in like manner to an handmaid (and thou shalt treat a slave-girl in the same manner).

18 Thou shalt not turn away from them thine eyes, when thou shalt deliver them free, for by the hire of an hired man they served thee by six years; that thy Lord God bless thee, in all the works which thou doest. (Thou shalt not turn away thine eyes from them, when thou shalt set them free, for they have served thee for six years at half the cost, or at half the wages, of a hired servant; and then the Lord thy God shall bless thee, in all the works which thou doest.)

19 Of the first engendered things that be born in thy droves, and in thy sheep, whatever is of male kind, thou shalt hallow to thy Lord God (Of the first-born of thy herds, and of thy sheep, whatever is male, thou shalt dedicate to the Lord thy God). Thou shalt not work with the first engendered thing of oxen, and thou shalt not shear the first engendered things of sheep.