Verse 17

you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently(this applies to your female servant as well).

Referenced Verses

• Lev 25:39-42 : 39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. 40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 41 but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. 42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.
• 1 Sam 1:22 : 22 But Hannah did not go up with them, because she had told her husband,“Not until the boy is weaned. Then I will bring him so that he may appear before the LORD. And he will remain there from then on.”