Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.
Parallel Translations
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Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.
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Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
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Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying: 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand'; and thine eye be evil against thy needy brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin in thee.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 15:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 24:15 In his day you shall give him his wages, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.
- Matthew 20:15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- Exodus 22:23 If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
- James 5:9 Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
- Exodus 3:7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
- Job 34:28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
- Proverbs 23:6 Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:
- Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.
- Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
- James 5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Deuteronomy 15:1 At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.
- Deuteronomy 28:54-56 The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,
- Psalms 9:12 For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- Proverbs 21:13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
- Proverbs 24:9 The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
- Matthew 25:41-45 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
- Romans 7:8-9 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
- James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
- James 4:17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.
- 1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
- 1 John 3:15-17 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, thine eye is evil.
Hebrew, thine eye is evil.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought…
Deu 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Ver. 9. And he cried unto the Lord.] Who is the poor man’s king, as James V of Scotland was termed for his charity.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Beware that there be not a thought in thy…
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart; suppress the first risings and inward motions of such uncharitableness.
Thine eye be evil, i.e. envious, unmerciful, unkind, as this phrase is used, Pro 23:6; Mat 20:15; as a good eye notes the contrary disposition, Pro 22:9.
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It be sin, i.e. it be charged upon thee as a sin, and as a great sin, as the word sin sometimes signifies, as Pro 24:9; Joh 15:24; Jam 4:17.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Beware that there be not a thought in thy…
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart,.... "Or, thy heart of Belial" (f); thy worthless heart, and which is without a yoke not subjected to the law of God, as every carnal heart is; and in which Belial, Satan, the prince of this world, works effectually, and inclines to evil thoughts, afflictions, and desires, which are to be guarded against:
saying, the seventh year, the year of release, is at hand: perhaps next year, or within a few months:
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and thine eye be evil against thy brother, and thou give him nought; being of an uncompassionate and covetous disposition, shall refuse to give or lend him anything on this consideration, because the year of release will quickly come, when, if poor and unable to pay him, he would be obliged to release his debt:
and he cry unto the Lord against thee; go to the throne of grace, and in prayer bring a charge, and lodge a complaint of unkindness and uncharitableness: and it be a sin unto thee; the Lord shall reckon it as a sin, a very heinous one, and call to an account for it.
(f) "corde tuo Belial", Montanus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Beware - Suppress the first risings of such uncharitableness.…
Beware - Suppress the first risings of such uncharitableness. It be sin - That is, it be charged upon thee as a sin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Beware that there be not a thought…
Verse 9. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart] לבבך בליעל lebabecha beliyaal, thy belial heart, that is, thy good-for-nothing or unprofitable heart; See Clarke on De 13:13.
And thine eye be evil] An evil eye signifies a covetous disposition. See the same form of expression used by our Lord in the same sense. Mt 6:23. If thine eye be evil - If thou be a covetous person. Evil eye is by our Lord opposed to single eye, i. e., a person of a liberal, benevolent mind. Covetousness darkens the soul; liberality and benevolence enlighten it.
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And he cry unto the Lord against thee] What a consolation to the poor and the oppressed, that they have a sure friend in God, who will hear their cry and redress their grievances!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 15:9-10. Beware — Suppress the first risings of…
Deu 15:9-10. Beware — Suppress the first risings of such uncharitableness.
And thine eye be evil — Envious, unmerciful, unkind, as this phrase means, Pro 23:6; that is, thou grudge to relieve him. The opposite to this is a bountiful eye, Pro 22:9. And it be sin unto thee — Charged upon thee as a sin. Thy heart shall not be grieved — That is, thou shalt give, not only with an open hand, but with a willing and cheerful mind, without which thy very charity is uncharitable, and not accepted by God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Eyes. Hebrew, "and thy eye be evil against," &c.…
Eyes. Hebrew, "and thy eye be evil against," &c. This expression denotes one who is a prey to the base passions of avarice, jealousy, envy, &c., chap. xxviii. 54., and Matthew xx. 15. (Calmet) --- A sin, or draw on punishment. (Menochius) --- "If thou hast not fed, thou hast killed" thy neighbour in extreme want. (St. Ambrose, Off. ii. 7.) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Beware that there be not a thought in…
9. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart — The original is very forcible. Lest there be a wicked thing in thy heart.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. Beware] be on guard with respect to thyself;…
9. Beware] be on guard with respect to thyself; see on Deu_4:9.
a base thought in thine heart] Lit. a word or thing in thine heart, baseness, or worthlessness: beliya‘al; see on Deu_13:13 (14).
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thine eye be evil] cruel or grudging, Deu_28:54; Deu_28:56; the opposite of tender or compassionate.
and it be sin unto thee] ‘that which we think our Prudence oft proves sin to us’ (M. Henry).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A thought in thy wicked heart; literally, a thing…
A thought in thy wicked heart; literally, a thing in thy heart worthlessness, i.e. a thing which is worthless and unworthy. The word used is belial (lYliB), which does not denote that which is wicked so much as that which is worthless. Thus, "a man of Belial" is a worthless fellow not necessarily a wicked man. (of Deu_13:13) And it be sin unto thee; i.e. entail guilt upon thee, and so expose thee to the Divine displeasure.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 not to have a wicked thought in your heart,…
not to have a wicked thought in your heart, saying
Here "heart" represents a person's mind. AT: "not to think a wicked thought" (See: Metonymy)
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The seventh year, the year of release, is near
It is implied that because the year of release will happen soon, the person thinking this will be reluctant to help a poor person since it is likely that the poor person will not have to pay him back. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The seventh year
The word "seventh" is the ordinal number for seven. (See: Ordinal Numbers)
the year of release
"the year to cancel debts"
is near
Something that will happen soon is spoken of as if it were physically near. AT: "will happen soon" (See: Metaphor)
so that you will not be stingy in regard to your poor brother and give him nothing
"so that you are not stubborn and refuse to give anything to your fellow Israelite"
cry out to Yahweh
"shout to Yahweh for help"
it would be sin for you
"Yahweh will consider what you have done to be sinful"
your heart must not be sorry
Here "heart" represents the whole person. AT: "you should not regret it" or "you should be happy" (See: Synecdoche and Litotes)
in all that you put your hand to
Here "put your hand to" represents the whole person and work that he has done. AT: "in all that you do" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
evil
heart
cry
sin
bless
works
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.