New International Version
Deuteronomy 24:6
6Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.
Deuteronomy 24:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one’s living in pledge.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“It is wrong to take a set of millstones, or even just the upper millstone, as security for a loan, for the owner uses it to make a living.
Context of Deuteronomy 24:6
4then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 5If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security. 7If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you. 8In cases of defiling skin diseases, be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.
Read all of Deuteronomy 24Deuteronomy 24:6 word by word
לֹא־יַחֲבֹ֥ל רֵחַ֖יִם וָרָ֑כֶב כִּי־נֶ֖פֶשׁ ה֥וּא חֹבֵֽל׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 24:6
- Exodus 22:26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset,
- Revelation 18:22The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No worker of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again.
- Deuteronomy 20:19When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?
- Genesis 44:30“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,
- Luke 12:15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 24:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6The nether or the upper mill-stone - Small hand-mills which can be worked by a single person were formerly in use among the Jews, and are still used in many parts of the East. As therefore the day's meal was generally ground for each day, they keeping no stock beforehand, hence they were forbidden to take either of the stones to pledge, because in such a case the family must be without bread. On this account the text terms the millstone the man's life.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6Compare Exodus 22:25-26.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-13Verses 5-13 It is of great consequence that love be kept up between husband and wife; that they carefully avoid every thing which might make them strange one to another. Man-stealing was a capital crime, which could not be settled, as other thefts, by restitution. The laws concerning leprosy must be carefully observed. Thus all who feel their consciences under guilt and wrath, must not cover it, or endeavour to shake off their convictions; but by…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6that would be taking one’s livelihood (literally it is his life): Without his tool, the millstone owner might die. The law set a limit on what could secure a loan. The millstone probably represents any way a person earned a living.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge--The "upper" stone being concave, covers the "nether" like a lid; and it has a small aperture, through which the corn is poured, as well as a handle by which it is turned. The propriety of the law was founded on the custom of grinding corn every morning for daily consumption. If either of the stones, therefore, which composed the handmill was wanting, a person would be deprived of his…Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 24:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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