For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.
Parallel translations
- KJV For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
- BSB For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.
- NKJV For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
- NASB For the poor will not cease to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
- NLT There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because poverty would never fully disappear, God commanded ongoing open-handedness toward the poor. Need will persist, so generosity must be a settled way of life.
Overview
This realistic counterpart to verse 4 acknowledges that human sin means the poor will always be present. Rather than excusing neglect, it grounds a permanent obligation to give. Jesus quotes this verse to affirm both that the poor remain with us and that devotion to him does not cancel but informs our care for them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 26:11For you always have the poor with you; but you don’t always have me.
- Mark 14:7For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me.
- John 12:8For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”
- Deut 15:8but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.
- 1 Jn 3:16–18By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Prov 22:2The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.
- Acts 4:32–35The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
- Luke 12:33Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.
- Acts 2:45They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
- 2 Cor 8:2–9how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.
- Matt 5:42Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.
- Acts 11:28–30One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 15:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.