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
" 'And if a man sells {a residential house in a walled city}, then it shall be his redemption until completing {a year after his selling}; its redemption {shall last} {a year}. But if it is not redeemed {before a full year has passed}, then the house that [is] {in the walled city} shall belong to the buyer in perpetuity throughout his generations; it shall not go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee. read more. However, village houses that have no surrounding wall shall be considered {open country}; [there] is redemption for it, and in the Jubilee it shall go out [of the buyer's hand]. " 'As for the cities of the Levites, [that is], the houses in their property's cities, it shall be {a lasting redemption} for the Levites. And whatever [anyone] redeems from the Levites then must go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee, [including] a house's selling {in his city's property}, because the houses in the cities of the Levites [are] their property in the midst of the {Israelites}. But a field of their cities' pastureland must not be sold, because {it is their property for all time}. " 'And if your countryman becomes poor and {if he becomes dependent on you}, then you shall support him [like] an alien and [like] a temporary resident, and he shall live with you. You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you. You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit. I [am] Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give {you} the land of Canaan, to be as God for you. " 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}. He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a temporary resident; he shall work with you until the Year of Jubilee. And he and his sons with him shall go out from you, and he shall return to his clan, and to the property of his ancestors he shall return.
There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine." And there were those who were saying, "We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards for the tax of the king. read more. Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. {We are powerless}, and our fields and vineyards [belong] to others."
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound [by his oath].'
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
And again I testify to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.
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 indeed you require the cloak of your neighbor as a pledge, you will return it to him at sundown, because it is his only garment; it is his cloak for his skin. In what will he sleep? {And} when he cries out to me, I will hear, because I [am] gracious.
And when you sell something to your fellow citizen or [you] buy from your neighbor's hand, you must not oppress {one another}.
" 'As for the cities of the Levites, [that is], the houses in their property's cities, it shall be {a lasting redemption} for the Levites.
" 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}.
"At the end of seven years you shall grant remission of debt. And this [is] the manner of the remission of debt: every {creditor} shall remit his claim that he holds against his neighbor, and he shall not exact payment [from] his brother because there remission of debt has been proclaimed unto Yahweh. read more. [With respect to] the foreigner you may exact payment, but {you must remit} what shall be [owed] to you [with respect to] your brother. Nevertheless, there shall not be among you a poor [person], because Yahweh will certainly bless you in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as] an inheritance, to take possession of it. If only you listen well to the voice of Yahweh your God {by observing diligently} all of these commandments that I [am] commanding you {today}. When Yahweh your God has blessed you, [just] as he {promised} to you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow [from them], and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}. But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and {you shall willingly lend} [to] him enough to meet his need, {whatever it is}. {Take care} so that there will not be {a thought of wickedness} in your heart, {saying}, 'The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,' {and you view your needy neighbor with hostility}, and [so] you [do] not give to him, and he might cry [out] against you to Yahweh, and {you would incur guilt against yourself}. By all means you must give to him, and {you must not be discontented} at your giving to him, because on account of this [very] thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and {in all that you undertake}. For the poor will not cease to be {among you} [in] the land; therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor [that are] in your land.' If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and [he or she] has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person [out] {free}. And when you send him [out] free from you, you shall not send him [away] empty-handed. You shall generously supply him from [among] your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; [according to] that [with which] Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I [am] commanding you thus {today}.
"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}. You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you.
He will suffer trouble when he loans to a stranger, but he who refuses a pledge is safe.
A person who lacks {sense} {pledges}; he becomes security before his neighbor.
And [because] he did not have [enough] to repay [it], the master ordered him to be sold, and his wife and his children and everything that he had, and to be repaid.
And [because he] was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers until he would repay everything that was owed.
Smith
Debtor.
[LOAN]
See Loan