Deuteronomy 15:17

Revised Standard Version (RSV-CI)

then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your bondman for ever. And to your bondwoman you shall do likewise.

Cross References

Exodus 21:5

But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

Exodus 21:6

then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.

Deuteronomy 15:16

But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you,

Deuteronomy 15:18

It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

1 Samuel 1:22

But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and abide there for ever.”