Deuteronomy 15:12

Release of Debt Slaves

15:12 If your fellow Hebrew ¹  – whether male or female ²  – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant ³  go free. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ⁵  and regards him as mere property ⁶  and sells him, that kidnapper ⁷  must die. In this way you will purge ⁸  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 32:30

32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, ⁹ 

and two pursue ten thousand;

unless their Rock had delivered them up, ¹⁰ 

and the Lord had handed them over?

[15:12]  ¹ sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ’ivriy) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ’apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.

[15:12]  ² tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”

[15:12]  ³ tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.

[15:12]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”

[24:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.

[24:7]  ⁶ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

[24:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “that thief.”

[24:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.

[32:30]  ⁹ tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).