Deuteronomy 15:17

thou shalt take an awl Lit. a borer, only here and in Exodus 21:6.

and thrust it through his ear Lit. set, or give, it; E, boreor pierce his ear. His earbecause it is the organ of obedience. Cp. Psalms 40:6, mine ears thou hast opened; Isaiah 50:4 f., morning by morning he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the taught … The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear. In the Code of Ḫammurabi (§ 282) the slave who denies his master has his ear cut off.

unto the door E, to the door or doorpost, i.e. of his master's house. See Driver on Exodus 21:6, and the meaning of the other phrase there, to the Elohim, which D omits, whether because it means the local sanctuary, abolished by D's law, or some domestic image of deity, still more repugnant to D. See Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, 210.

thy bondman for ever i.e. for life; -again a good example of the relative force of the Heb. phrase for ever" (Berth.).

And also unto thy bondwoman, etc.] See introd. note.