Reference: Debtor
American
One under obligations, whether pecuniary or moral, Mt 23:16; Ro 1:14; Ga 5:3. If the house, cattle, or goods of a Hebrew would not meet his debts, his land might be appropriate for this purpose until the year of Jubilee, or his person might be reduced into servitude till he had paid his debt by his labor, or till the year of Jubilee, which terminated Hebrew bondage in all cases, Le 25:29-41; 2Ki 4:1; Ne 5:3-5.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
If a man sells a dwelling house in a fortified city, he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year he may have the right of redemption. And if it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house that is in the fortified city shall be made sure, permanently and without limitations, for him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go free in the Year of Jubilee. read more. But the houses of the unwalled villages shall be counted with the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go free in the Year of Jubilee. Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. But if a house is not redeemed by a Levite, the sold house in the city they possess shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their ancestral possession among the Israelites. But the field of unenclosed or pasture lands of their cities may not be sold; it is their perpetual possession. And if your [Israelite] brother has become poor and his hand wavers [from poverty, sickness, or age and he is unable to support himself], then you shall uphold (strengthen, relieve) him, [treating him with the courtesy and consideration that you would] a stranger or a temporary resident with you [without property], so that he may live [along] with you. Charge him no interest or [portion of] increase, but fear your God, so your brother may [continue to] live along with you. You shall not give him your money at interest nor lend him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. And if your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondman (a slave not eligible for redemption), But as a hired servant and as a temporary resident he shall be with you; he shall serve you till the Year of Jubilee, And then he shall depart from you, he and his children with him, and shall go back to his own family and return to the possession of his fathers.
Also some said, We are mortgaging our lands, vineyards, and houses to buy grain because of the scarcity. Others said, We have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards to pay the [Persian] king's heavy tax. read more. Although our flesh is the same as that of our brethren and our children are as theirs, yet we are forced to sell our children as slaves; some of our daughters have already been thus sold, and we are powerless to redeem them, for others have our lands and vineyards.
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, If anyone swears by the sanctuary of the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, he is a debtor [bound by his oath].
Both to Greeks and to barbarians (to the cultured and to the uncultured), both to the wise and the foolish, I have an obligation to discharge and a duty to perform and a debt to pay.
I once more protest and testify to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation and bound to practice the whole of the Law and its ordinances.
Easton
Various regulations as to the relation between debtor and creditor are laid down in the Scriptures.
(1.) The debtor was to deliver up as a pledge to the creditor what he could most easily dispense with (De 24:10-11).
(2.) A mill, or millstone, or upper garment, when given as a pledge, could not be kept over night (Ex 22:26-27).
(3.) A debt could not be exacted during the Sabbatic year (De 15:1-15).
For other laws bearing on this relation see Le 25:14,32,39; Mt 18:25,34.
(4.) A surety was liable in the same way as the original debtor (Pr 11:15; 17:18).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
If you ever take your neighbor's garment in pledge, you shall give it back to him before the sun goes down; For that is his only covering, his clothing for his body. In what shall he sleep? When he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious and merciful.
And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
And if your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondman (a slave not eligible for redemption),
At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, for the Lord's release is proclaimed. read more. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother [Israelite] your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, If only you carefully listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to do watchfully all these commandments which I command you this day. When the Lord your God blesses you as He promised you, then you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. If there is among you a poor man, one of your kinsmen in any of the towns of your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your [minds and] hearts or close your hands to your poor brother; But you shall open your hands wide to him and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Beware lest there be a base thought in your [minds and] hearts, and you say, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin in you. You shall give to him freely without begrudging it; because of this the Lord will bless you in all your work and in all you undertake. For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hands to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land. And if your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress; of what the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. And you shall [earnestly] remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I give you this command today.
When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.
He who becomes security for an outsider shall smart for it, but he who hates suretyship is secure [from its penalties].
A man void of good sense gives a pledge and becomes security for another in the presence of his neighbor.
And because he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and his children and everything that he possessed, and payment to be made.
And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (the jailers), till he should pay all that he owed.
Smith
Debtor.
[LOAN]
See Loan