Deuteronomy 24:10

Summary

The verse states that when a person lends anything to their neighbor, they are prohibited from entering the neighbor's house to seize the pledge themselves. The Hebrew structure sets up a conditional clause (the lending) followed by a negative prohibition (entering the house).

Key words

• ta.Sheh ("you will lend", H5383) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, indicating the act of causing a loan to exist for another person; the causative form frames the lender as the one initiating the debt relationship.
• ma.Shat ("a loan of", H4859) — feminine singular construct noun, linked to me.'U.mah ("anything", H3972) to form the phrase "a loan of anything," specifying the object being lent without limiting its type.
• ta.Vo' ("you will go", H0935G) — qal imperfect, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), forming the core prohibition against physical entry.
• 'a.Vot ("take as pledge", H5670) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose ("in order to take as pledge"), clarifying why entry into the house is forbidden.
• a.vo.T...o ("his pledge", H5667 + H9023) — construct noun with third-person suffix, specifying that the pledge belongs to the neighbor, reinforcing that the object remains under the neighbor's control until surrendered.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle ki- ("if", H3588A) attached to ta.Sheh ("you will lend", H5383), establishing the scenario: a person extending a loan to a Re.'a ("neighbor", H7453) with the second-person suffix kha ("your", H9021). The object of the loan is described by the construct pair ma.Shat ("a loan of", H4859) and me.'U.mah ("anything", H3972), a construction that generalizes the type of loan without specifying its nature.

The second half of the verse pivots to prohibition, marked by lo' ("not", H3808) preceding ta.Vo' ("you will go", H0935G), a qal imperfect verb describing physical movement. The destination is bei.T-o ("his house", H1004B + H9023), showing the pledge is located within the debtor's domain. The purpose clause is introduced by the preposition la. ("to", H9005) attached to the infinitive 'a.Vot ("take as pledge", H5670), followed by the object a.vo.T-o ("his pledge", H5667 + H9023). The repetition of the root H5670/H5667 (verb and noun sharing the same consonantal base) creates an internal echo — the infinitive "to pledge-take" governs the noun "his pledge" — emphasizing the specific act being restricted.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the conditional differently, using ᾖ ("might be") with ὀφείλημα ("debt/obligation"), framing the scenario as a debt existing rather than an act of lending, and phrases the entry clause as a future indicative (εἰσελεύσῃ, "you will enter") joined by καί ("and") rather than as a negative prohibition — the negation is not visible in the provided LXX text at this point. The Vulgate uses "repetes" ("you will seek back/demand"), framing the action from the perspective of debt collection rather than lending, where the Hebrew ta.Sheh (H5383) describes the act of lending itself.