Deuteronomy 15:3

Christian Standard Bible ®

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

Parallel Translations

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 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 you must cancel debts. ²This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s release of debts has been proclaimed. ³You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.⁴“There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— ⁵if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today. ⁶When the Lord your God blesses you as he has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you. ⁷“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. ⁸Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. ⁹Be careful that there isn’t this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty. ¹⁰Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

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 into a great nation,I will bless you,I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 13:16
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

Genesis 14:14
When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan.

Proverbs 13:12
Hope delayed makes the heart sick,but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 29:21
A servant pampered from his youthwill become arrogant later on.

Proverbs 30:23
an unloved woman when she marries,and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

Ecclesiastes 2:7
I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned livestock—large herds and flocks—more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 12:1
You will be righteous, Lord,

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).