What Does Leviticus 25:14 Mean?
And if you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy anything from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another:THE KEY
The verse makes the exchange and the relationship inseparable: neither buying nor selling turns a neighbor’s need into permission to exploit them.
THE MEANING
In every exchange, the other person remains a neighbor, not merely a means to an advantage. Seller and buyer stand under the same boundary: neither may exploit the other in the transfer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a deal is fair whenever both sides agree, even if one person uses the other’s vulnerability for gain.
THE ROOT
תִּמְכְּרוּ
timkeru
GROWS FROM
מכר
מכר (makhar) means to sell or transfer something for value.
The verse uses the same root for “sell” and “ought,” the thing being sold: מִמְכָּר (mimkar), merchandise or something sold. The transaction’s object and action are joined in Hebrew, while the command keeps both people in view.
ALSO GROWS
mimkar: A thing sold; merchandise
מִמְכָּר
This word appears in the verse itself, sharing the root of “sell” and making the act and its object part of one word family.
mokher: A seller; one who sells
מֹכֵר
This branch names the person performing the sale, showing the root’s reach from the act to the person involved.
קֹנֶה
qoneh
GROWS FROM
קנה
קנה (qanah) means to acquire, gain, or buy.
“buy” in this verse is qoneh. Buying is named as acquiring, yet the buyer’s gain does not cancel the seller’s standing as a neighbor. The verse places acquisition and sale under the same limit on exploitation.
ALSO GROWS
qoneh: One who acquires or buys
קוֹנֶה
This is the buyer named by the root: the one who gains the thing remains bound by the verse’s shared boundary.
miqneh: Acquired property or livestock
מִקְנֶה
This branch names what is acquired, linking the buyer’s possession to the neighbor from whom it comes.
THE PATTERN
Exchange remains just when the measure honors the other person as fully as it honors the goods and price.
Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.But you shall have a whole and aligned stone, and a whole and aligned measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God gives you.Therefore all things whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them; for this is the instruction and the prophets.THE THREAD
You shall not therefore oppress one another, but stand in awe of your God, for I am the LORD your God.The same Hebrew verb translated “oppress” returns, carrying the boundary beyond the price of a transaction into dealings with a neighbor more broadly. The exchange is one place where the relationship’s integrity becomes visible.
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