complete verse (Leviticus 25:53)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 25:53:

  • Kupsabiny: “The wealthy foreigner should take the person of Israel who sold himself like a person who was hired to work on a yearly basis. The foreigner is never allowed to be harsh to the person of the land (Israelite) who sold himself to him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “His master may only deal with him as [he would] with wage-earning workmen. And you must be concerned [about whether] his master deals with him in that way or not.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The one-who-bought him is-to-consider him just-like a hired worker and he is- not -to-be-cruel to him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “During the years that he is working for the man who bought him, the man who bought him must treat him like he would treat a hired worker, and all of you must make sure that his owner does not treat him cruelly.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 25:53

As a servant hired …: many see in this statement an implicit clause, “As long as he remains with his master he shall be treated as a hired servant” (Bible en français courant). However, Good News Translation sees it as a hypothetical statement linked with the previous verse. This is also the preferred solution of New Jerusalem Bible.

Rule with harshness: see verses 43 and 46.

In your sight: the pronoun is singular but is probably to be taken as a collective form referring to the people of Israel as a whole. Since the handling of an Israelite slave by a wealthy foreigner took place in the presence of other Israelites, they were charged with the responsibility of assuring that the treatment was benevolent. This detail seems to have been omitted by Good News Translation and may have to be left implicit in other languages, since its inclusion may be understood to mean that the master could mistreat the slave as long as no one was looking.

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 .