Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
Parallel translations
- WEB No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge; for he takes a life in pledge.
- KJV No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.
- NKJV “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one’s living in pledge.
- NASB “No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s means of life as a pledge.
- NLT “It is wrong to take a set of millstones, or even just the upper millstone, as security for a loan, for the owner uses it to make a living.
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
No one may take millstones as security for a loan, because that would seize the means of daily bread, a person's very livelihood. Lending must never strip away life's necessities.
Overview
The hand mill ground the grain for a household's daily food, so holding it as a pledge would effectively take 'a life in pledge.' The law restrains creditors from using their power to endanger a debtor's survival. This concern for the vulnerable poor runs throughout Deuteronomy and reflects the heart of God, who defends the needy and supplies daily bread (Matthew 6:11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Luke 12:15And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
- Deut 20:19When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?
- Gen 44:30So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life,
- Rev 18:22And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.
- Exod 22:26–27If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 24:6 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.