Deuteronomy 15:2
Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord,
Open Deuteronomy 15:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- quæ hoc ordine celebrabitur. Cui debetur aliquid ab amico vel proximo ac fratre suo, repetere non poterit, quia annus remissionis est Domini.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ οὕτως τὸ πρόσταγμα τῆς ἀφέσεως· ἀφήσεις πᾶν χρέος ἴδιον ὃ ὀφείλει σοι ὁ πλησίον, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφόν σου οὐκ ἀπαιτήσεις· ἐπικέκληται γὰρ ἡ ἄφεσις Κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ σου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְזֶה֮ דְּבַ֣ר הַשְּׁמִטָּה֒ שָׁמ֗וֹט כָּל בַּ֨עַל֙ מַשֵּׁ֣ה יָד֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר יַשֶּׁ֖ה בְּרֵעֵ֑הוּ לֹֽא יִגֹּ֤שׂ אֶת רֵעֵ֨הוּ֙ וְאֶת אָחִ֔יו כִּֽי קָרָ֥א שְׁמִטָּ֖ה לַֽיהוָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Again. Hebrew does not mention friend. (Haydock)
"He shall not exact it, (or urge) his neighbour or his brother, because," &c. Whence Cajetan gathers, that debts might be demanded after the expiration of the seventh year, on which the products of the earth did not enable the Jews to pay any thing. Grotius also asserts, that perpetual debts might be required; and Menoch, includes things lent under the same regulation. But all debts became extinct as soon as the seventh year commenced; (ver. 9.; Calmet) at least they could not be demanded till it was expired; though things merely lent, might be taken back. (Du Hamel)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian The Five Books Against Marcion, Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions; So in the Present Instance. On Reprisals. Christ's Teaching Throughout Proves Him to Be Sent by the Creator
And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?” compare with this the following words of Ezekiel, in which He says of the before-mentioned just man, “He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any increase”, meaning the redundance of interest, which is usury. The first step was to eradicate the fruit of the money lent, the more easily to accustom a man to the loss, should it happen, of the money itself , the in terest of which he had learnt to lose. Now this, we affirm, was the function of the law as preparatory to the gospel. It was engaged in forming the faith of such as would learn, by gradual stages, for the perfect light of the Christian discipline, through the best precepts of which it was capable, inculcating a benevolence which as yet expressed itself but falteringly. …