Deuteronomy 24:12
But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that night,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Sin autem pauper est, non pernoctabit apud te pignus,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος πένηται, οὐ κοιμηθήσῃ ἐν τῷ ἐνεχύρῳ·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְאִם אִ֥ישׁ עָנִ֖י ה֑וּא לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב בַּעֲבֹטֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Night, if it be a garment or bed covering, which may be necessary for the poor man. (Haydock)
By allowing the creditor to keep the pledge such a short time, God wished to discourage the taking of any from such as were in real distress. (Menochius)
The same regulation required, that if a necessary implement for labour, during the day time, was pledged, it should be returned in the morning. (Calmet)
This was done every day, to admonish the creditor and the debtor to exercise mercy and justice in their respective situations. The debtor was to remember to do his utmost in order to pay his debts. (St. Augustine, q. 41.)
These daily debts were not remitted in the sabbatic years, according to the Rabbins, whose opinion seems very hard and inconsistent. (Haydock)
Solomon advises not to stand bond for another's debts, Proverbs xx. 16., and xxii. 26. Many nations in the Indies allowed no action at law to recover debts, as the creditor ought to have taken his precautions before he parted with his money or merchandize. (Stobœus.; Strabo, xv.) (Calmet)
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. …