Deuteronomy 23:19

Summary

Deuteronomy 23:19 prohibits charging interest to a fellow Israelite ("brother") on loans, specifying three categories: money, food, and any other item that could generate interest. The verse uses the same root word four times to reinforce the totality of the prohibition.

Key words

• ta.Shikh ("you will charge interest", H5391B) — Hiphil imperfect, second person masculine singular; the causative form indicates actively imposing interest on someone else, distinct from simply receiving it.
• 'a.Chi.kha ("your countryman", H0251I + H9021) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, identifying the specific recipient of the prohibition as a fellow member of the community.
• Ne.shekh ("interest of", H5392) — masculine singular construct, repeated three times (words 6, 8, 10), each time governing a different noun (money, food, "any thing") to enumerate the scope of forbidden interest.
• da.Var ("thing", H1697I) — governed by kol ("any", H3605) in construct, broadening the prohibition beyond money and food to encompass any item that could be lent.
• yi.Shakh ("someone will pay interest", H5391B) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; same root as ta.Shikh but in the simple (non-causative) stem, describing the general act of interest being charged/paid on any transaction.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence begins with the negation lo' ("not", H3808) followed by the Hiphil verb ta.Shikh, establishing a direct prohibition addressed to "you" (singular). The object of the prohibition is introduced by the preposition le ("to", H9005) attached to 'a.Chi.kha ("your countryman"), marking the recipient of the forbidden action.

The core of the verse is built on a triple repetition of Ne.shekh ("interest of") in construct state, each instance linked to a different noun: Ke.sef ("money", H3701G), 'O.khel ("food", H0400), and finally kol-da.Var ("any thing", H3605 + H1697I). This structure creates a cumulative list that moves from the specific (money, food) to the general (any thing), reinforced by the concluding relative clause 'a.Sher yi.Shakh ("which someone will pay interest"). The final verb yi.Shakh uses the Qal stem of the same root as the opening ta.Shikh, shifting from the causative "you will charge" to the simple "will be charged/paid," which grammatically closes the list by describing the general phenomenon of interest-bearing transactions rather than repeating the direct address.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the third category (kol-da.Var, "any thing") as "nec quamlibet aliam rem" ("nor any other thing"), consistent with the Hebrew's broadening structure. The LXX uses ἐκδανίσῃς ("you might lend") for the final relative clause, shifting the grammatical subject from an impersonal "someone" (as in the Hebrew yi.Shakh) to the second-person addressee, making explicit what remains general in the Hebrew Qal form.