Deuteronomy 15:3

King James Version

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

Hebrew Names Version
Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of your is with your brother your hand shall release.

Lexham English Bible
With respect to the foreigner you may exact payment, but you must remit what shall be owed to you with respect to your brother.

English Standard Version
Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

New Century Version
You may make a foreigner pay what is owed to you, but you must not collect what another Israelite owes you.

New English Translation
You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit.

Amplified Bible
"You may require repayment from a foreigner, but whatever of yours is with your brother [Israelite] your hand shall release.

New American Standard Bible
"From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall forgive whatever of yours is with your brother.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Of a stranger thou mayest require it: but that which thou hast with thy brother, thine hand shall remit:

Legacy Standard Bible
From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.

Contemporary English Version
This law applies only to loans you have made to other Israelites. Foreigners will still have to pay back what you have loaned them.

Complete Jewish Bible
You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you.

Darby Translation
Of the foreigner thou mayest demand it; but what is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release;

Easy-to-Read Version
You may require a foreigner to repay you, but you must cancel any debt another Israelite owes you.

George Lamsa Translation
Of a foreigner you may exact it again; but that which you have with your brother (kindred) you shall release,

Good News Translation
You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

Literal Translation
You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand shall release whatever is yours with your brother,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Of a strauger mayest thou requyre it: but vnto him that is thy brother, shalt thou remytte it.

American Standard Version
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thy hand shall release.

Bible in Basic English
A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yet of a straunger thou mayst call it home agayne: but he that is thy brother, hym shall thine hande remit.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it; but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thy hand shall release.

King James Version (1611)
Of a forreiner thou mayest exact it againe: but that which is thine with thy brother, thine hand shall release.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Of a stranger thou shalt ask again whatsoever he has of thine, but to thy brother thou shalt remit his debt to thee.

English Revised Version
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thine hand shall release.

Berean Standard Bible
You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt axe of a pilgrym and comelyng; thou hast not power to axe of a citeseyn and neiybore;

Young's Literal Translation
of the stranger thou mayest exact, and that which is thine with thy brother doth thy hand release;

Update Bible Version
Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

Webster's Bible Translation
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [it again]: but [that] which is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release:

World English Bible
Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of your is with your brother your hand shall release.

New King James Version
Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother,

New Living Translation
This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you.

New Life Bible
You may make a stranger pay what he owes, but not your brother.

New Revised Standard
Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Of a foreigner, thou mayest exact it, - but, what thou hast with thy brother, thy hand shall release;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again.

Revised Standard Version
Of a foreigner you may exact it; but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.

Contextual Overview

¹ At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. ² And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord 's release. ³ Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; ⁴ Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: ⁵ Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. ⁶ For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. ⁷ If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: ⁸ But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. ⁹ Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. ¹⁰ Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 23:20, Exodus 22:25, Matthew 17:25, Matthew 17:26, John 8:35, 1 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Corinthians 6:7, Galatians 6:10

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 15:4 - Save Nehemiah 5:7 - Ye exact usury Daniel 11:20 - a raiser of taxes in the

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Genesis 13:16
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Genesis 14:14
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Proverbs 29:21
He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.

Proverbs 30:23
For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.

Ecclesiastes 2:7
I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous art thou, O Lord , when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again,.... Either on the seventh year, or after it:

but that which is thine with thy brother, thine hand shall release; a debt that lies between them, where the one is the creditor, and the other debtor, the creditor shall freely and fully forgive the debtor. So those only are released or forgiven by the Lord who are his own, whom he has reserved for himself, or chosen to everlasting life; who are interested in the covenant of his grace, one article in which is the forgiveness of sins; and who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, a branch of which redemption is remission of sin; and who are called by grace, and believe in Christ, to whom pardon of sins is promised; but those who are foreigners and strangers, and are not the Lord's chosen, redeemed, and called people, have no share in this blessing of grace; nor such who are rich in their own esteem, and need nothing; but those who are poor and unable to pay their debts, and are sensible of their spiritual poverty, and apply to the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The year of release is no doubt identical with the sabbatical year of the earlier legislation (Exodus 23:10 ff, and Leviticus 25:2 ff), the command of the older legislation being here amplified. The release was probably for the year, not total and final, and had reference only to loans lent because of poverty (compare Deuteronomy 15:4, Deuteronomy 15:7). Yet even so the law was found to be too stringent for the avarice of the people, because it was one of those which the rabbis “made of none effect by their traditions.”

Deuteronomy 15:2

Because it is called the Lord’s release - Render, because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release. The verb is impersonal, and implies (compare Deuteronomy 31:10) that “the solemnity of the year of release” has been publicly announced.

Deuteronomy 15:3

The foreigner would not be bound by the restriction of the sabbatical year, and therefore would have no claim to its special remissions and privileges. He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt anymore in the one than the others.

Deuteronomy 15:4

There is no inconsistency between this and Deuteronomy 15:11. The meaning seems simply to be, “Thou must release the debt for the year, except when there be no poor person concerned, a contingency which may happen, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee.” The general object of these precepts, as also of the year of Jubilee and the laws respecting inheritance, is to prevent the total ruin of a needy person, and his disappearance from the families of Israel by the sale of his patrimony.

Deuteronomy 15:9

literally: “Beware that there be not in thy heart a word which is worthlessness” (compare Deuteronomy 13:13 note).