Exodus 22:25

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

“If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אִם־חָבֹ֥ל תַּחְבֹּ֖ל שַׂלְמַ֣ת רֵעֶ֑ךָ עַד־בֹּ֥א הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ תְּשִׁיבֶ֥נּוּ לֽוֹ׃

Transliteration

If ḥābōl taḥbōl śalmat rēʿekā, until bōʾ the šemeš tĕšîbennû to him.

Grammar Details

• *ḥābōl taḥbōl*: qal infinitive absolute + qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular, 'you surely take as pledge'
• *śalmat*: feminine singular construct, 'garment of'
• *rēʿekā*: masculine singular noun with 2nd masculine singular suffix, 'your neighbor'
• *bōʾ*: qal infinitive construct, 'coming of'
• *šemeš*: definite feminine singular noun, 'sun'
• *tĕšîbennû*: hiphil imperfect, 2nd masculine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix, 'you shall return it'

Word Meanings

• *ḥābōl taḥbōl*: surely take as pledge/certainly take in pledge
• *śalmat*: garment/cloak/outer garment

Referenced Verses

• Lev 25:35-37 : 35 Debt and Slave Regulations“‘If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident. 36 Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you. 37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.
• Ps 15:5 : 5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be shaken.
• Deut 23:19-20 : 19 Respect for Others’ Property You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. 20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the LORD your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.
• Ezek 18:8 : 8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing, promotes true justice between men,
• Prov 28:8 : 8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest gathers it for someone who is gracious to the needy.
• Neh 5:7 : 7 I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them,“Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen!” Because of them I called for a great public assembly.
• Ezek 18:17 : 17 refrains from wrongdoing, does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; he will surely live.
• Ezek 22:12 : 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
• Matt 25:27 : 27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest!
• Luke 19:23 : 23 Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’
• Ezek 18:13 : 13 engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. He will bear the responsibility for his own death.
• Neh 5:10-11 : 10 Even I and my relatives and my associates are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! 11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”
• Jer 15:10 : 10 Jeremiah Complains about His Lot and The Lord Responds I said,“Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.”
• 2 Kgs 4:1 : 1 Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying,“Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the LORD. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”
• 2 Kgs 4:7 : 7 She went and told the prophet. He said,“Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”
• Neh 5:2-5 : 2 There were those who said,“With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 3 There were others who said,“We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” 4 Then there were those who said,“We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king on our fields and our vineyards. 5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, and our children are just like their children, still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.”