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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 15:18 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
De 15:18	King James	It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee--that is, he is entitled to double wages because his service was more advantageous to you, being both without wages and for a length of time, whereas hired servants were engaged yearly (Lev 25:53), or at most for three years (Isa 16:14).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee--that is, he is entitled to double wages because his service was more advantageous to you, being both without wages and for a length of time, whereas hired servants were engaged yearly (Lev 25:53), or at most for three years (Isa 16:14).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
If, on the other hand, the servant (or maid) wished to be set free, the master was not to think it hard; "for the double of the wages of a day-labourer he has earned for thee for six years," i.e., not "twice the time of a day-labourer, so that he had really deserved twice the wages" (Vatablius, Ad. Osiander, J. Gerhard), for it cannot be proved from Isa 16:14, that a day-labourer generally hired himself out for three years; nor yet, "he has been obliged to work much harder than a day-labourer, very often by night as well as day" (Clericus, J. H. Michaelis, Rosenmller, Baumgarten); but simply, "he has earned and produced so much, that if you had been obliged to keep a day-labourer in his place, it would have cost you twice as much" (Schultz, Knobel).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

If, on the other hand, the servant (or maid) wished to be set free, the master was not to think it hard; "for the double of the wages of a day-labourer he has earned for thee for six years," i.e., not "twice the time of a day-labourer, so that he had really deserved twice the wages" (Vatablius, Ad. Osiander, J. Gerhard), for it cannot be proved from Isa 16:14, that a day-labourer generally hired himself out for three years; nor yet, "he has been obliged to work much harder than a day-labourer, very often by night as well as day" (Clericus, J. H. Michaelis, Rosenmller, Baumgarten); but simply, "he has earned and produced so much, that if you had been obliged to keep a day-labourer in his place, it would have cost you twice as much" (Schultz, Knobel).

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