Deuteronomy 15:3

New Century Version

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

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.

King James Version
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine 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 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, you must tell those who owe you anything that they do not have to pay you back. ² This is how you must do it: Everyone who has loaned money must cancel the loan and not make a neighbor or relative pay it back. This is the Lord 's time for canceling what people owe. ³ You may make a foreigner pay what is owed to you, but you must not collect what another Israelite owes you. ⁴ But there should be no poor people among you, because the Lord your God will richly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own. ⁵ He will bless you if you obey the Lord your God completely, but you must be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. ⁶ The Lord your God will bless you as he promised, and you will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them. You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you. ⁷ If there are poor among you, in one of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be selfish or greedy toward them. ⁸ But give freely to them, and freely lend them whatever they need. ⁹ Beware of evil thoughts. Don't think, "The seventh year is near, the year to cancel what people owe." You might be mean to the needy and not give them anything. Then they will complain to the Lord about you, and he will find you guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give freely to the poor person, and do not wish that you didn't have to give. The Lord your God will bless your work and everything you touch.

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
I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

Genesis 13:16
I will make your descendants as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your people.

Genesis 14:14
When Abram learned that Lot had been captured, he called out his 318 trained men who had been born in his camp. He led the men and chased the enemy all the way to the town of Dan.

Proverbs 13:12
It is sad not to get what you hoped for. But wishes that come true are like eating fruit from the tree of life.

Proverbs 29:21
If you spoil your servants when they are young, they will bring you grief later on.

Proverbs 30:23
a hated woman who gets married, and a maid who replaces her mistress.

Ecclesiastes 2:7
I bought male and female slaves, and slaves were also born in my house. I had large herds and flocks, more than anyone in Jerusalem had ever had before.

Jeremiah 12:1
Lord , when I bring my case to you, you are always right. But I want to ask you about the justice you give. Why are evil people successful? Why do dishonest people have such easy lives?

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).