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.”

Deuteronomy 15:11

15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open ³  your hand to your fellow Israelites ⁴  who are needy and poor in your land.

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 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

⁴ tn Heb “your brother.”