Deuteronomy 15:9

KJV1611 – Modern English

Beware that there is not a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cries to the LORD against you, and it be sin to you.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֡ פֶּן־יִהְיֶ֣ה דָבָר֩ עִם־לְבָבְךָ֨ בְלִיַּ֜עַל לֵאמֹ֗ר קָֽרְבָ֣ה שְׁנַֽת־הַשֶּׁבַע֮ שְׁנַ֣ת הַשְּׁמִטָּה֒ וְרָעָ֣ה עֽ͏ֵינְךָ֗ בְּאָחִ֙יךָ֙ הָֽאֶבְי֔וֹן וְלֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן ל֑וֹ וְקָרָ֤א עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶל־יְהוָ֔ה וְהָיָ֥ה בְךָ֖ חֵֽטְא׃

Transliteration

šāmar to you lest-hāyāh dāḇār with-your lēḇāḇ bəliyyaʿal lēʾmōr is approaching šānaṯ-the šeḇaʿ šānaṯ the šəmiṭṭāh, and rāʿāh your ʿayin against your ʾāḥ the ʾeḇyôn and not you nāṯan to him, and he qārāʾ against you to-YHWH, and hāyāh in you ḥēṭəʾ.

Grammar Details

• *šāmar*: niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular - guard yourself
• *hāyāh*: qal perfect + vav consecutive, 3rd person masculine singular - will be
• *dāḇār*: noun, masculine singular - word/matter
• *lēḇāḇ*: noun with possessive suffix, masculine singular - your heart
• *bəliyyaʿal*: noun, masculine singular - worthlessness
• *lēʾmōr*: qal infinitive construct - to say
• *šānaṯ*: construct state, feminine singular - year of
• *šeḇaʿ*: definite numeral - the seven
• *šəmiṭṭāh*: definite noun, feminine singular - the release
• *rāʿāh*: qal perfect + vav consecutive, 3rd person feminine singular - will be evil
• *ʿayin*: noun with possessive suffix, feminine singular - your eye
• *ʾāḥ*: noun with possessive suffix, masculine singular - your brother
• *ʾeḇyôn*: definite adjective, masculine singular - the needy
• *nāṯan*: qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular - you give
• *qārāʾ*: qal perfect + vav consecutive, 3rd person masculine singular - will call
• *YHWH*: proper noun - divine name
• *ḥēṭəʾ*: noun, masculine singular - sin

Word Meanings

• *šāmar*: guard/take heed/beware
• *dāḇār*: word/matter/thought
• *bəliyyaʿal*: worthlessness/wickedness/baseness
• *lēʾmōr*: saying/thinking
• *rāʿāh*: be evil/be displeased/look unfavorably
• *qārāʾ*: call/cry out/call upon
• *ḥēṭəʾ*: sin/guilt/fault

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: 'The seventh year, the year of release, is near,' and you look grudgingly on your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  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.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  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.

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  And beware that there be not a poynte of Belial in thine hert, that thou woldest saye. The seuenth yere, the yere of fredome is at honde, and therfore it greue the to loke on thy poore brother and geuest him nought and he then crye vnto the Lorde agenst the and it be synne vnto the:

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Bewarre, that there be not a poynte of Belial in thine hert, that thou woldest saye: The seuenth yeare, the yeare of Fredome is at honde. For yf thou lokest not fredly vpo thy poore brother, and geuest him nothinge then shall he crye ouer the vnto the LORDE, and it shall be synne vnto the:

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thine heart, to say, The seuenth yeere, the yeere of freedome is at hand: therefore it grieueth thee to looke on thy poore brother, and thou giuest him nought, and he crie vnto the Lorde against thee, so that sinne be in thee:

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thine heart, that thou wouldest say, the seuenth yere, the yere of freedome is at hande: and therfore it greeueth thee to loke on thy poore brother, and geuest hym naught, and he then crye vnto the Lorde agaynst thee, and it be sinne vnto thee:

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  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.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  `Take heed to thee lest there be a word in thy heart -- worthless, saying, Near `is' the seventh year, the year of release; and thine eye is evil against thy needy brother, and thou dost not give to him, and he hath called concerning thee unto Jehovah, and it hath been in thee sin;

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  And see that there is no evil thought in your heart, moving you to say to yourself, The seventh year, the year of forgiveness is near; and so looking coldly on your poor countryman you give him nothing; and he will make an outcry to the Lord against you, and it will be judged as sin in you.

• World English Bible (2000)

  Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;" and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the LORD against you and you will be regarded as having sinned.

Referenced Verses

• Deut 24:15 : 15 You shall give him his wages on the same day, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it: lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.
• Matt 20:15 : 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good?
• Prov 23:6 : 6 Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his delicacies:
• Prov 28:22 : 22 He who hastens to be rich has an evil eye and does not consider that poverty shall come upon him.
• Exod 22:23 : 23 If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;
• Job 34:28 : 28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come to Him, and He hears the cry of the afflicted.
• Jas 5:4 : 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
• Jas 5:9 : 9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
• 1 Pet 4:9 : 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
• 1 John 3:15-17 : 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
• Exod 3:7 : 7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows;
• Ps 9:12 : 12 When he avenges blood, he remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the humble.
• Prov 4:23 : 23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
• Prov 21:13 : 13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
• Deut 15:1 : 1 At the end of every seven years, you shall make a release.
• Deut 28:54-56 : 54 So that the man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: 55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he has nothing left him in the siege, and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you in all your gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
• Jer 17:10 : 10 I the LORD search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his deeds.
• Matt 15:19 : 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
• Prov 24:9 : 9 The thought of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men.
• Matt 25:41-45 : 41 Then he will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44 Then they also will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? 45 Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
• Mark 7:21-22 : 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
• Rom 7:8-9 : 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of covetousness. For without the law, sin was dead. 9 For I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
• Jas 4:5 : 5 Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us yearns jealously?
• Jas 4:17 : 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.