Exodus - 22:26



26 If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down,

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Exodus 22:26.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:
If thou at all take thy neighbor's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him before the sun goeth down:
If thou take of thy neighbour a garment in pledge, thou shalt give it him again before sunset.
If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down;
If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down:
If thou shalt at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it to him by the setting of the sun.
if thou dost at all take in pledge the garment of thy neighbour, during the going in of the sun thou dost return it to him:
If you at all take your neighbor's raiment to pledge, you shall deliver it to him by that the sun goes down:
If ever you take your neighbour's clothing in exchange for the use of your money, let him have it back before the sun goes down:
If you take a garment from your neighbor as a pledge, you shall return it to him again before the setting of the sun.
Si in pignus acceperis vestimentum proximi tui, antequam occubuerit sol restitues illud ei.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

The law regarding pledges is expanded, Deuteronomy 24:6, Deuteronomy 24:10-13.

If thou - take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge - It seems strange that any pledge should be taken which must be so speedily restored; but it is very likely that the pledge was restored by night only, and that he who pledged it brought it back to his creditor next morning. The opinion of the rabbins is, that whatever a man needed for the support of life, he had the use of it when absolutely necessary, though it was pledged. Thus he had the use of his working tools by day, but he brought them to his creditor in the evening. His hyke, which serves an Arab as a plaid does a Highlander, (See Clarke's note on Exodus 12:34), was probably the raiment here referred to: it is a sort of coarse blanket, about six yards long, and five or six feet broad, which an Arab always carries with him, and on which he sleeps at night, it being his only substitute for a bed. As the fashions in the east scarcely ever change, it is very likely that the raiment of the Israelites was precisely the same with that of the modern Arabs, who live in the very same desert in which the Hebrews were when this law was given. How necessary it was to restore the hyke to a poor man before the going down of the sun, that he might have something to repose on, will appear evident from the above considerations. At the same time, the returning it daily to the creditor was a continual acknowledgment of the debt, and served instead of a written acknowledgment or bond; as we may rest assured that writing, if practiced at all before the giving of the law, was not common: but it is most likely that it did not exist.

If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge,.... So that it seems that the lender, though he might not impose usury on the borrower, or oblige him to pay interest for what he lent him, yet for the security of his money he might take his clothes, either his bed clothes or wearing apparel, or any instruments or goods of his; but when he did, he was bound to what follows:
thou shalt deliver it to him by that the sun goeth down; the reason of which appears in the next verse, with respect to his bed clothes, should that be the pledge: but Jarchi interprets it, not of his nocturnal clothes, but of his apparel in the daytime, and paraphrases it thus,"all the day thou shalt restore it to him until the setting of the sun; and when the sun is set, thou shalt return and take it until the morning of the morrow comes; the Scripture speaks of the covering of the day, of which there is no need at night;''but rather night clothes are meant by what follows.

If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, &c.--From the nature of the case, this is the description of a poor man. No Orientals undress, but, merely throwing off their turbans and some of their heavy outer garments, they sleep in the clothes which they wear during the day. The bed of the poor is usually nothing else than a mat; and, in winter, they cover themselves with a cloak--a practice which forms the ground or reason of the humane and merciful law respecting the pawned coat.

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