What Does Deuteronomy 23:19 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word for interest grows from “bite,” making the added charge visible as a bite taken from what a neighbor borrows.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks against lending to a brother in a way that takes more from him because he needs help. It names money, food, and anything else that can be lent, so the bite is visible in every kind of provision. The command meets the reader wherever lending turns another person’s need into an opportunity to take more.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a loan is automatically an act of care simply because it begins by providing help.
THE ROOT
נֶשֶׁךְ
neshekh
GROWS FROM
נשך
To bite.
The word translated “usury” comes from a root meaning “bite,” and the verb for charging interest in this verse comes from that same root. Hebrew makes the extra taken from borrowed money, food, or any other provision feel like a bite into the borrower’s means.
ALSO GROWS
nashakh: To bite; also, to charge interest.
נָשַׁךְ
The verb and noun share the same root, linking the act of charging interest to the image of a bite.
neshekh: Interest or usury; literally, a bite.
נֶשֶׁךְ
The charge is pictured as something taken from the borrower, even when what was lent was food or another necessity.
THE PATTERN
Lending preserves kinship when provision does not become a way to take more from the person who needs it.
If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.THE THREAD
If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.Exodus repeats the same word for usury and makes the borrower’s poverty explicit. That shared bite-root shows how the added charge lands on the very person the loan is meant to help.
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