Leviticus 25:46

And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
inheritance	וְהִתְנַחֲלְתֶּ֨ם ve.hit.na.chal.Tem	H5157	to inherit (as a (figurative) mode of descent) · conjunction + verb, hithpael sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
children	לִבְנֵיכֶ֤ם liv.nei.Khem	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
after	אַחֲרֵיכֶם֙ 'a.cha.rei.Khem	H310	properly · cardinal number, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
inherit	לָרֶ֣שֶׁת la.Re.shet	H3423	to occupy (by driving out previous tenants · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
possession	אֲחֻזָּ֔ה 'a.chu.Zah	H272	something seized · noun, common feminine singular absolute
bondmen	תַּעֲבֹ֑דוּ ta.'a.Vo.du	H5647	to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
ever	לְעֹלָ֖ם le.'o.Lam	H5769	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
brethren	וּבְאַ֨חֵיכֶ֤ם u.ve.'A.chei.Khem	H251	a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
children	בְּנֵֽי be.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
rule	תִרְדֶּ֥ה tir.Deh	H7287	to tread down · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
one	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
another	בְּאָחִ֔יו be.'a.Chiv	H251	a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rigour	בְּפָֽרֶךְ be.Fa.rekh	H6531	fracture · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 14:2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servan…
Leviticus 25:43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 25:39–end

We have here the laws concerning servitude, designed to preserve the honour of the Jewish nation as a free people, and rescued by a divine power out of the house of bondage, into the glorious liberty of God's sons, his first-born. Now the law is, I. That a native Israelite should never be made a bondman for perpetuity. If he was sold for debt, or for a crime, by the house of judgment, he was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh; this was appointed, Exo 21:2. But if he sold himself through extreme poverty, having nothing at all left him to preserve his life, and if it was to one of his own nation that he sold himself, in such a case it is here provided, 1. That he should not serv…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 25:39

if thy brother . . . be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant--An Israelite might be compelled, through misfortune, not only to mortgage his inheritance, but himself. In the event of his being reduced to this distress, he was to be treated not as a slave, but a hired servant whose engagement was temporary, and who might, through the friendly aid of a relative, be redeemed at any time before the Jubilee. The ransom money was determined on a most equitable principle. Taking account of the number of years from the proposal to redeem and the Jubilee, of the current wages of labor for that time, and multiplying the remaining years by that sum, the…

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Adam Clarke on Leviticus 25:43

Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor - What is rigorous service? "Service which is not determined, and service whereof there is no need." This is the definition given by the Jews; but much more is implied in this command than is expressed here. Labour beyond the person's strength, or labor too long continued, or in unhealthy or uncomfortable places and circumstances, or without sufficient food, etc., is labor exacted with rigour, and consequently inhuman; and this law is made, not for the Mosaic dispensation and the Jewish people, but for every dispensation and for every people under heaven.

Dictionary and topics

Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Loan — The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Ex.…
Slave — Jer. 2:14 (A.V.), but not there found in the original. In Rev. 18:13 the word “slaves” is the rendering of a Greek word meaning “bodies.” The Hebrew and Greek words for slave are usually rendered…
Heir · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Jubilee · LAWS CONCERNING — LAWS CONCERNING
Servant · .Laws of Moses concerning — .Laws of Moses concerning
Servants · Divided into: Bond — Divided into: Bond

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Leviticus 25:46

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 25:39–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 25:39

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 25:43

Dictionary and topics

Leviticus 25:46

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 25:39–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 25:39

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 25:43

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Leviticus 25:46

John Calvin on Leviticus 25:39–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 25:8–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 25:44-46

Rashi on Leviticus 25:46