דְּרוֹר

From the study of Isaiah 61:1

Range of meaning

Release from obligation: the freeing of debt-slaves and the return of people to their family land. It occurs only seven times: Lev 25:10 (the Jubilee), Jer 34:8, 15, 17 (Zedekiah's slave release), Ezek 46:17 ('the year of deror'), here, and in 'flowing myrrh' (Exod 30:23) and 'swallow' (Ps 84:3; Prov 26:2), which may be homonyms or may share the idea of free flow or movement.

Against the English

'Liberty' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT) is not wrong, but modern readers hear political freedom, civil rights or inner freedom. The Hebrew word is a specific legal act: a decree by which debts are cancelled, slaves walk free and land goes back to its families.

How it drifted

'Liberty' took on Enlightenment and American political meanings, famously through Lev 25:10 on the Liberty Bell. Later Christian use also spiritualised it as freedom from sin.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is cognate with Akkadian andurāru (also durāru), the royal edict of release proclaimed by Mesopotamian kings (e.g. Ammi-ṣaduqa of Babylon) when they cancelled debts and freed debt-slaves, often at the start of a reign. The Septuagint translates deror as aphesis ('release, remission', also 'forgiveness' in later Christian Greek), both here and in Lev 25:10. 11QMelchizedek joins Isa 61:1 to Lev 25 and Deut 15 and makes Melchizedek the proclaimer of deror in the final Jubilee.

From the study of Jeremiah 34:8

Range of meaning

Release, freeing from obligation, especially letting debt-slaves go and restoring people (and in Lev 25, land) to their original state. BDB connects it to a root meaning 'free flowing' or 'free run': the same form describes 'free-flowing' myrrh (Exod 30:23) and names the swallow, a bird that flies freely (Ps 84:3[4]; Prov 26:2). In the legal passages it always names a declared release that takes effect by proclamation.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and YLT have 'liberty', ESV has 'liberty', NIV and NLT have 'freedom', and NASB has 'release'. 'Release' is the most accurate. 'Liberty' and 'freedom' are not wrong, but to modern ears they suggest a civil or political condition rather than a single legal act that cancels a bond.

How it drifted

Through Leviticus 25:10 ('proclaim liberty throughout all the land'), which is engraved on the American Liberty Bell, the English word 'liberty' took on Enlightenment and national meanings: individual rights and freedom from tyranny. The Hebrew term is narrower and more concrete.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew Bible: Lev 25:10 (Jubilee); Isa 61:1 ('to proclaim release to the captives'); Ezek 46:17 ('the year of release'); Jer 34:8, 15, 17. The Akkadian cognate (a related word in a sister language) andurāru(m) names royal release edicts. Old Babylonian kings, for example in the edict of Ammi-ṣaduqa, proclaimed release from debts and debt-slavery, often at the start of a reign or in a crisis, together with mīšarum, 'equity'. The Septuagint renders it aphesis ('release, remission'). At Qumran, 11QMelchizedek reads Lev 25 and Isa 61 together as an end-time release.

From the study of Leviticus 25:10

Range of meaning

A legal and social release: debts are cancelled, people in debt-bondage are freed, and property and persons go back to their original standing. It occurs only a few times: Lev 25:10; Jer 34:8, 15, 17; Isa 61:1; Ezek 46:17 ("the year of dərôr"). Two unrelated homonyms share the spelling: dərôr "swallow" (a bird that darts freely, Ps 84:3; Prov 26:2) and mor-dərôr "free-flowing myrrh" (Exod 30:23). Some scholars see a shared idea of "free movement," but that is uncertain.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NIV, BSB and WEB have "liberty," NLT "freedom," and NASB and the Jewish (JPS) translations "release." To a modern English reader "liberty" means political freedom or individual rights in general. "Release" is closer to the legal act: a specific cancellation that sends people and land back to where they belong.

How it drifted

The KJV wording "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" was cast on the Pennsylvania State House bell (1752–53). Abolitionists later called it the "Liberty Bell," and from then on the phrase meant civic and national freedom in the Enlightenment sense. That is a noble use, but it is not the legal meaning of dərôr.

Used elsewhere in the period

Dərôr matches Akkadian andurāru (Old Babylonian through Neo-Assyrian). When a Mesopotamian king "established andurāru" (often with mīšarum, "equity"), he cancelled certain debts, freed debt-slaves, and returned some sold family land. The Edict of Ammi-ṣaduqa of Babylon (17th c. BCE) is the best-preserved example. Jeremiah 34 uses "call out dərôr" for King Zedekiah's release of Hebrew slaves, which was then reversed. Ezekiel 46:17 has land gifted to a servant reverting "in the year of dərôr." Isaiah 61:1 takes up the phrase for the return from exile, and 11QMelchizedek from Qumran combines Lev 25:13, Deut 15:2 and Isa 61:1 into an end-time release. The Greek Septuagint translates dərôr as aphesis, "release, remission," and Luke 4:18–19 quotes Isaiah 61 with that same word.