Deuteronomy 15:17

New English Translation

you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).

Cross References

Exodus 21:5

But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

Exodus 21:6

then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

Deuteronomy 15:16

However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,

Deuteronomy 15:18

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

1 Samuel 1:22

but Hannah did not go up with them. Instead she told her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the Lord, and he will remain there from then on.”