Beware lest there be 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 cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- BSB Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- NASB Be careful that there is no mean-spirited thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you.
- NLT Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin.
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
Israelites were warned not to refuse a loan as the release year approached, for the wronged poor could cry to God and it would be counted sin. God sees and judges stingy calculation.
Overview
The looming cancellation of debts might tempt a lender to withhold help to avoid loss. God names this a 'base thought' and a sin, and assures that the neglected poor have his ear. This reveals that God weighs motives and defends the oppressed, a sobering reminder that love must triumph over self-interest.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Deut 24:15In his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.
- Matt 20:15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- Jas 5:9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
- Exod 22:23If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;
- Mark 7:21–22For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
- Jer 17:10“I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Exod 3:7Yahweh 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.
- Prov 28:22A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.
- Job 34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
- Matt 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
- Prov 23:6Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:
- Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Deut 28:54–56The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining;
- Rom 7:8–9But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
- 1 Pet 4:9Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
- Ps 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- 1 Jn 3:15–17Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
- Prov 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- Prov 21:13Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
- Deut 15:1At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.
- Jas 4:5Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
- Prov 24:9The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
- Jas 4:17To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.
- Matt 25:41–45Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
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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 15:9 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.
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