I’ve been using the Legacy Standard Bible in various settings for several months, and there are several translation choices that I appreciate (e.g., the use of Yahweh in the Old Testament,” altering the NASB’s “descendants” to “seed”).
However, I think the decision to render δοῦλος universally as “slave” is misguided. The translation of עֶבֶד seems to have been more careful, though there are some instances in which “slave” would not be my preferred translation.
In the Greek world of Paul, this word and its cognate verbs were commonly used of slaves and their service, and Paul occasionally used it this way (Gal 3:28; 4:7, 22, 23, 30, 31). However, given the conceptual and lexical legacy of the Hebrew Bible and the inscriptional use of the Semitic root ע-ב-ד in the ancient Near East, it is misleading to render the word δοῦλος as ‘bond-slave’ or ‘bond-servant’ when Paul applies it to himself [Note 30: “NAS renders the word ‘bond-servant’ in Luke 2:29; Lom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Phil 2:7; Col 1:7; 4:7; 2 Tim 2:24; Titus 1:1; Jas 1:1; 2 Pet 1:1; Jude 1:1; Rev 1:1; 15:4]. In royal circles עֶבֶד הַמֶּלֶךְ, ‘servant of the king,’ was an honorific title designating persons equivalent to cabinet ministers in modern governments (2 Sam 18:29; 2 Kgs 22:12 [//2 Chr 34:2]’ 25:8). The expression occurs often in the Hebrew Bible [Note 31: “the word עֶבֶד occurs frequently in construct with the names of specific kings: e.g., Saul (1 Sam 29:3); Solomon (1 Kgs 11:26; 2 Chr 13:6); the king of Babylon (2 Kgs 25:8). Note also the personal name עֶֽבֶד־מֶלֶךְ in Jer 38:7-13; 39:15-18.”], but its courtly significance is confirmed by the plethora of ancient seals from Israel and its environs bearing epithets like עֶבֶד הַמֶּלֶךְ, or more specifically, ‘servant of RN,’ where RN represents a royal name. Even more impressive is a recently discovered Anatolian monument erected by a ‘servant of the king.’ No slave would have had the resources, or the Chutzpah to erect a monument like this.”
Daniel I. Block, “Hearing Galatians with Moses: An Examination of Paul as a Second and Seconding Moses,” in The Triumph of Grace: Literary and Theological Studies in Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic Themes (Eugene Oregon: Cascade, 2017), 379, second brackets original.