Deuteronomy 15:2

15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ¹  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ²  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Nehemiah 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully ³  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁴  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁵  from your own countrymen!” ⁶  Because of them I called for ⁷  a great public assembly.

Nehemiah 5:10-11

5:10 Even I and my relatives ⁸  and my associates ⁹  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ¹⁰  5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ¹¹  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

Nehemiah 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ¹²  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ¹³ 

Isaiah 58:3

58:3 They lament, ¹⁴  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ¹⁵ 

you oppress your workers. ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 45:9

45:9 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, ¹⁷  declares the sovereign Lord.

¹ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

² tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

³ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

⁴ tn Heb “nobles.”

⁵ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

⁶ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁷ tn Heb “I gave.”

⁸ tn Heb “brothers.”

⁹ tn Heb “lads.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

¹¹ tc The MT reads וּמְאַת (umÿ’at, “and the hundredth”) which is somewhat enigmatic. The BHS editors suggest emending to וּמַשַּׁאת (umasha’t, “and the debt”) which refers to the interest or collateral (pledge) seized by a creditor (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; see HALOT 641-42 s.v. מַשָּׁא). The term מַשַּׁאת (masha’t) is related to the noun מָשָּׁא (masha’, “debt”) in 5:7, 10.

¹² tn Heb “take.”

¹³ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

¹⁴ tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁵ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

¹⁶ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

¹⁷ sn Evictions of the less fortunate by the powerful are described in 1 Kgs 21:1-16; Jer 22:1-5, 13-17; Ezek 22:25.