AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The same statute at Sinai structural / thematic — confirmed
The release-of-Hebrew-slaves law first stands in Exodus 21:2: "if thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free." Deuteronomy 15 repeats and expands it (adding the maidservant and the liberal furnishing). The two share more than the common six-year vocabulary (shᵉbîyʻîy 94 vv, shêsh 202 vv, ʻâbad 262 vv): they also share the relatively rare emancipation-word chophshîy ("free," 17 vv) and the national term ʻIbrî ("Hebrew," 32 vv). Barnes, Keil & Delitzsch, and the Pulpit Commentary all treat the two passages as one law in two codifications — Deuteronomy re-stating Exodus 21 "as a law which already existed as a right" (K&D). Because Deuteronomy does not cite Exodus but re-codifies the same statute in its own phrasing, the link is tiered structural rather than quotation, though the shared rare words make it the strongest of the OT-internal legal ties.
Exodus 21:2 · Deuteronomy 15:12
basis: Shared lexemes (Verifier, direct pair): rare H2670 chophshîy (17 vv) + H5680 ʻIbrî (32 vv), plus the six-year formula H7637 shᵉbîyʻîy (94 vv), H8337 shêsh (202 vv), H5647 ʻâbad (262 vv). The rare shared words confirm a tight verbal kinship, but since Deuteronomy re-codifies rather than quotes Exodus 21, it is tiered structural (one law in two codifications), not quotation.
The awl through the ear verbal / quotation — confirmed
The piercing rite of v.17 is bound to Exodus 21:6 by the rarest word in the unit: martsêaʻ, "awl," which occurs in the whole Hebrew Bible only at these two verses. Both passages share the awl, the ʼôzen (ear), the deleth (door), and the bondman ʻôwlâm (forever). This is the single strongest verbal tie in the unit — a near-identical ceremonial formula. Cambridge notes D writes "set/give it" where Exodus 21 writes "bore/pierce."
Exodus 21:6 · Deuteronomy 15:17
basis: Shared rare lexeme H4836 martsêaʻ ("awl") — occurs in only 2 verses in all of Scripture, both being this pair; plus H1817 deleth, H241 ʼôzen, H5769 ʻôwlâm. A rare shared lexeme + identical rite = confirmed verbal/quotation link.
Jeremiah's indictment over this very law verbal / quotation — confirmed
Jeremiah 34:8-16 records Judah covenanting to free Hebrew slaves "that none should serve himself of them" — and then breaking faith and re-enslaving them, drawing God's judgment. Jeremiah 34:13-14 quotes this Deuteronomic statute by name: "At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee." Ellicott points to exactly this: "This law is expressly referred to in Jeremiah 34:9; Jeremiah 34:13-14." The verbal link is strong, sharing the emancipation word chophshîy (only 17 vv) and the national term ʻIbrîy ("Hebrew," 32 vv) — both relatively rare — plus mâkar ("sold") and shêsh ("six").
Jeremiah 34:14 · Jeremiah 34:9 · Deuteronomy 15:12
basis: Shared rare lexemes H2670 chophshîy (17 vv) + H5680 ʻIbrîy (32 vv) + H4376 mâkar (74 vv) + H8337 shêsh (202 vv); Jeremiah 34:13-14 explicitly cites this Mosaic statute, making it an in-Testament quotation of the law.
The true fast that lets the oppressed go free structural / thematic — confirmed
Isaiah 58:6 defines the fast God chooses as "to let the oppressed go free (chophshîy), and that ye break every yoke." The prophet takes the Deuteronomic emancipation-word and turns it into the measure of true worship. The tie is thematic, not a quotation of this law: it shares the release-word chophshîy (17 vv) and the sending-verb shâlach (790 vv), recasting the slave-release statute as the heart of acceptable fasting.
Isaiah 58:6 · Deuteronomy 15:13
basis: Shared lexeme H2670 chophshîy (17 vv) — the emancipation term — and H7971 shâlach (790 vv, common). Isaiah does not quote the law but redeploys its release-motif; tiered thematic, since shâlach is common and chophshîy is shared as a theme-word, not a citation.
Not empty — as Israel left Egypt structural / thematic — confirmed
Deuteronomy's distinctive command that the freed slave not go rêqām, "empty" (v.13), is bound by its very word to the Exodus deliverance. Exodus 3:21 promises that when Israel goes out it will not go empty (rêyqâm) — the same adverb, fulfilled when Israel plundered Egypt (Exodus 12:35-36). Cambridge marks the word's narrow Pentateuchal footprint (E, J, and D only). The basis is the relatively rare shared lexeme rêyqâm (16 vv): the master is to re-enact God's own generosity, sending his bondman out full-handed exactly as God sent Israel out full-handed. This is the lexical anchor under the unit's whole "the redeemed redeem" logic.
Exodus 3:21 · Deuteronomy 15:13
basis: Shared lexeme H7387 rêyqâm ("empty," 16 vv) — relatively rare; the same word for Israel not leaving Egypt empty (Exodus 3:21; cp. 23:15; 34:20). Not a citation but a deliberate verbal echo binding the slave-release to the Exodus pattern; tiered structural.
The necklace of release — and the necklace of pride verbal / quotation — confirmed
The emphatic doubled verb of v.14, ha‘ănêq ta‘ănîq ("thou shalt make-him-a-necklace"), turns on the root ʻânaq — a word so rare it occurs in only two verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. The other is Psalm 73:6, where pride encircles the wicked about the neck like a chain (ʻânaq). The same rare verb hangs a load about the neck in both — but in opposite moral registers: in Deuteronomy the freedman is adorned with his master's substance in love; in the Psalm the wicked are adorned with their own arrogance. The verbal tie is genuine (a rare shared lexeme), but it is a shared idiom, not a quotation of this law — the necklace-of-generosity and the necklace-of-pride simply draw on the one Hebrew picture of decking the neck.
Psalm 73:6 · Deuteronomy 15:14
basis: Shared rare lexeme H6059 ʻânaq ("to put on the neck / encircle as a necklace") — occurs in only 2 verses in all of Scripture, this pair. A rare shared lexeme meets the verbal threshold; but the connection is a shared idiom (decking the neck) used to opposite ends, not Psalm 73 citing the law — noted so the badge is not mistaken for a quotation-dependence.
The opened ear of glad obedience structural / thematic — confirmed
Cambridge itself draws this link: the bondman's pierced ear ("the organ of obedience") echoes Psalm 40:6, "mine ears hast thou opened" — a verse the NT (Hebrews 10:5) applies to the Messiah's glad self-offering. The connection is structural/typological, resting on the shared image of the ʼôzen (ear, 179 vv) as the seat of obedience, not on a verbal citation of this law. The servant who gives his ear to the door foreshadows the Servant who says "Lo, I come… to do thy will."
Psalm 40:6 · Deuteronomy 15:17
basis: Shared lexeme H241 ʼôzen ("ear," 179 vv) — a common word, so the link is the shared motif of the ear as organ of obedience (named by Cambridge), not a quotation. Tiered thematic; the typological reach to the Servant is noted under christ.
Why not in your eyes — the danger of a grudging heart structural / thematic — confirmed
Verse 18's "let it not be hard in your eyes" reaches back to v.9 of this same chapter — "Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thine heart… and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother." The unit's release-law is bracketed by warnings against the grudging eye. Cambridge cross-refers v.18 to v.9. This is an in-chapter structural inclusio, sharing the ʻayin (eye) motif and the verb of begrudging, binding generosity-to-the-poor (vv.1-11) to generosity-to-the-freed-slave (vv.12-18).
Deuteronomy 15:9 · Deuteronomy 15:18
basis: Shared motif within Deuteronomy 15 of the begrudging 'eye' (H5869 ʻayin) against the brother; Cambridge ties v.18 to v.9. An intra-unit structural inclusio, not a verbal quotation.