Leviticus 25:53

Study note

Setting — God addresses Israel through Moses, regulating the status of an Israelite servant whose redemption is delayed near the Year of Jubilee. The instruction applies to the moment when the owner must calculate the remaining service years before the Jubilee release.

The words — The text employs שָׂכִיר (śāḵîr), literally a hired laborer, and פֶּרֶךְ (perek), literally harshness or oppression. These terms establish the servant’s temporary contractual status and the absolute boundary of the owner’s treatment.

The thread — The command against harsh rule directly parallels Leviticus 25:43 and stands in contrast to Leviticus 25:46, which permits lifelong inheritance of foreign slaves. It is positioned between the redemption calculation in Leviticus 25:52 and the final Jubilee release in Leviticus 25:54.

Why it lands — The text states that the Israelite servant must be classified as a yearly hired worker and explicitly forbids foreign owners from ruling over him harshly. A reader must enforce this limit by capping exploitation and acknowledging the servant’s protected, temporary status.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.