Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 15:12 
Context15:12 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 15:18
Context15:18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice 5 the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Deuteronomy 18:6
Context18:6 Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will 6 from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, 7 to the place the Lord chooses
Deuteronomy 24:5
Context24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 8 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 9 the wife he has married.
Deuteronomy 32:36
Context32:36 The Lord will judge his people,
and will change his plans concerning 10 his servants;
when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
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.
2 tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”
3 tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.
4 tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”
5 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh, “twice”) could mean “equivalent to” (cf. NRSV) or, more likely, “double” (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). The idea is that a hired worker would put in only so many hours per day whereas a bondslave was available around the clock.
6 tn Heb “according to all the desire of his soul.”
7 tn Or “sojourning.” The verb used here refers to living temporarily in a place, not settling down.
8 tn Heb “go out with.”
9 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
10 tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.
