Deuteronomy 15:7-11

The Spirit of Liberality

15:7 If a fellow Israelite ¹  from one of your villages ²  in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive ³  to his impoverished condition. ⁴  15:8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend ⁵  him whatever he needs. ⁶  15:9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude ⁷  be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite ⁸  and you do not lend ⁹  him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. ¹⁰  15:10 You must by all means lend ¹¹  to him and not be upset by doing it, ¹²  for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open ¹³  your hand to your fellow Israelites ¹⁴  who are needy and poor in your land.

Deuteronomy 15:14

15:14 You must supply them generously ¹⁵  from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them.

Proverbs 23:6-8

23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person, ¹⁶ 

do not crave his delicacies;

23:7 for he is ¹⁷  like someone calculating the cost ¹⁸  in his mind. ¹⁹ 

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you;

23:8 you will vomit up ²⁰  the little bit you have eaten,

and will have wasted your pleasant words. ²¹ 

Isaiah 32:5

32:5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;

a deceiver will no longer be called principled.

Isaiah 32:8

32:8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;

his honorable character gives him security. ²² 

James 5:9

5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, ²³  so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! ²⁴ 

James 5:1

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ²⁵  over the miseries that are coming on you.

James 4:9

4:9 Grieve, mourn, ²⁶  and weep. Turn your laughter ²⁷  into mourning and your joy into despair.

[15:7]  ¹ tn Heb “one of your brothers” (so NASB); NAB “one of your kinsmen”; NRSV “a member of your community.” See the note at v. 2.

[15:7]  ² tn Heb “gates.”

[15:7]  ³ tn Heb “withdraw your hand.” Cf. NIV “hardhearted or tightfisted” (NRSV and NLT similar).

[15:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “from your needy brother.”

[15:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before both verbs. The translation indicates the emphasis with the words “be sure to” and “generously,” respectively.

[15:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “whatever his need that he needs for himself.” This redundant expression has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “your eye.”

[15:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “your needy brother.”

[15:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “give” (likewise in v. 10).

[15:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it will be a sin to you.”

[15:10]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “by all means.”

[15:10]  ¹² tc Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.” The LXX and Orig add, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.

[15:11]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

[15:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your brother.”

[15:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “generously.”

[23:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “an evil eye.” This is the opposite of the “good eye” which meant the generous man. The “evil eye” refers to a person who is out to get everything for himself (cf. NASB, NCV, CEV “selfish”). He is ill-mannered and inhospitable (e.g., Prov 28:22). He is up to no good – even though he may appear to be a host.

[23:7]  ¹⁷ tc The line is difficult; it appears to mean that the miser is the kind of person who has calculated the cost of everything in his mind as he offers the food. The LXX has: “Eating and drinking with him is as if one should swallow a hair; do not introduce him to your company nor eat bread with him.” The Hebrew verb “to calculate” (שָׁעַר, sha’ar) with a change of vocalization and of sibilant would yield “hair” (שֵׂעָר, se’ar) – “like a hair in the throat [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh], so is he.” This would picture an irritating experience. The Instruction of Amenemope uses “blocking the throat” in a similar saying (chapt. 11, 14:7 [ANET 423]). The suggested change is plausible and is followed by NRSV; but the rare verb “to calculate” in the MT would be easier to defend on the basis of the canons of textual criticism because it is the more difficult reading.

[23:7]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “the cost” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the verb; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[23:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “soul.”

[23:8]  ²⁰ sn Eating and drinking with a selfish miser would be irritating and disgusting. The line is hyperbolic; the whole experience turns the stomach.

[23:8]  ²¹ tn Or “your compliments” (so NASB, NIV); cf. TEV “your flattery.”

[32:8]  ²² tn Heb “and he upon honorable things stands.”

[5:9]  ²³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[5:9]  ²⁴ sn The term gates is used metaphorically here. The physical referent would be the entrances to the city, but the author uses the term to emphasize the imminence of the judge’s approach.

[5:1]  ²⁵ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[4:9]  ²⁶ tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[4:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”