He: this seems to refer to the slave himself, in the case where he had prospered and was able to pay for his own freedom. But it may also envision the case where one of his relatives appears with the money necessary to buy him back. In this case it will still be the unfortunate Israelite who sold himself into slavery who must now go through the accounting procedure with the man who originally bought him. In any case it may be better in some languages to translate the pronoun he as “the Israelite slave” or something similar.

According to the number of years: that is, according to the time remaining until the next Year of Restoration. Here the principle is the same as in other cases of redemption before the jubilee year (see, for example, verse 27). The equivalent of the wages of a hired laborer for the remaining period was to be paid. The idea behind this was that, since the Israelites were the property of the LORD, they were simply hired out to others for a limited period. This seems to indicate that a person who was heavily in debt could sell himself and then be redeemed by a relative for a lesser amount.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .