Leviticus25:35–38

Usury as the mark of the wicked — and its refusal as the mark of the righteous (Ezekiel 18:8, 13, 17) verbal / quotation — confirmed

Ezekiel turns this very law into a test of righteousness and life. In his portrait of the just man and his wicked son, the prophet measures each by whether he “hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase” (18:8, 17) against the one who “hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live” (18:13). The Verifier confirms the link is genuinely verbal: Ezekiel 18 shares with this unit the two rarest words of the law — נֶשֶׁךְ (nešeḵ, H5392, in only 10 verses) and תַּרְבִּית (tarbîṯ, H8636, in only 6 verses) — together with the verb ḥāyāh (H2421, “to live”), the very word that closes Leviticus 25:35–36. The convergence is striking: Leviticus commands the refusal of the bite “that thy brother may live”; Ezekiel announces that the man who takes the bite “shall not live,” while the man who refuses it “shall surely live.” The same rare vocabulary and the same life-and-death stake show the prophet consciously preaching the Holiness Code back to a generation that had broken it (cf. Ezek 22:12, “thou hast taken usury and increase”). Jamieson, Fausset & Brown already cite Ezekiel here: “Usury was severely condemned (Ps 15:5; Eze 18:8, 17).”

Leviticus 25:36 · Leviticus 25:37 · Ezekiel 18:8 · Ezekiel 18:13 · Ezekiel 18:17 · Ezekiel 22:12

basis: shared rare lexemes H5392 neshek (in only 10 vv) and H8636 tarbîyth (in only 6 vv), plus H2421 châyâh (the 'live' verb of Lev 25:35–36) and H3947 lâqach; the low frequency of neshek and tarbîyth forces a verbal tier — Ezekiel 18 re-uses the law's own paired terms and its life-stake, preaching the Holiness Code back to Israel. No NT-quotation claim; Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal echo

“He that putteth not out his money to usury” — the law in the Psalter and the Proverbs (Psalm 15:5; Proverbs 28:8) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The wisdom and worship texts take the prohibition up as a mark of the citizen of God’s tent and a warning to the exploiter. Psalm 15, asking who may dwell on God’s holy hill, answers in part: “He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent” (15:5). Proverbs 28:8 turns it to providence: “He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.” The Verifier confirms shared lexemes with this unit in both: Psalm 15:5 shares נֶשֶׁךְ (nešeḵ, H5392, 10 vv), the wavering-verb môwṭ (H4131 — Psalm 15’s closing “shall never be moved” answering Leviticus 25:35’s “his hand wavers”), and keseph (H3701, silver/money); Proverbs 28:8 shares the rare pair nešeḵ (H5392) and tarbîṯ (H8636). The rarity of nešeḵ and tarbîṯ makes both links verbal: the Law’s ban on the bite becomes, in the Psalter, a condition of fellowship with God, and in Proverbs, an act that providence itself overturns for the poor. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown cite Psalm 15:5 by name in their note on this very passage.

Leviticus 25:36 · Leviticus 25:37 · Psalm 15:5 · Proverbs 28:8

basis: Psalm 15:5 shares H5392 neshek (10 vv), H4131 môwṭ (the wavering-verb of Lev 25:35), and H3701 keçeph; Proverbs 28:8 shares the rare pair H5392 neshek (10 vv) + H8636 tarbîyth (6 vv). The low frequency of neshek/tarbîyth forces a verbal tier — the Law's terms re-used as a condition of worship (Ps) and a providential reversal (Prov). Hebrew↔Hebrew, no quotation claimed

The Torah’s threefold usury-law — Exodus 22:25 and Deuteronomy 23:19 (with the same brother/stranger line) verbal / quotation — confirmed

This command is one of three closely parallel usury-laws in the Pentateuch, and the commentators read them together. Exodus 22:25: “If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee… thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.” Deuteronomy 23:19–20: “Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals… Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not.” The Verifier confirms shared lexemes with both: Exodus 22:25 shares נֶשֶׁךְ (nešeḵ, H5392, 10 vv) and keseph (H3701); Deuteronomy 23:19 shares nešeḵ (H5392), ’ōḵel (H400, food — matching Leviticus 25:37’s “your food”), and keseph (H3701). Cambridge names the parallel explicitly: “The same law appears in Exodus 22:25… Deuteronomy 23:20. In the latter case it is from ‘a stranger’ interest may be demanded.” Keil & Delitzsch and Poole cross-reference the same texts. The rarity of nešeḵ across all three, plus Deuteronomy’s shared “food” word, makes this a verbal cluster — one law, three deliverances, with the brother/stranger distinction running through each.

Leviticus 25:36 · Leviticus 25:37 · Exodus 22:25 · Deuteronomy 23:19

basis: Exodus 22:25 shares H5392 neshek (10 vv) + H3701 keçeph; Deuteronomy 23:19 shares H5392 neshek (10 vv) + H400 ʼôkel (food, 40 vv — matching Lev 25:37) + H3701 keçeph. The rare neshek anchors a verbal tier across the three Pentateuchal usury-laws; named by Cambridge, K&D, and Poole. Hebrew↔Hebrew, no NT-quotation claim

The rare verb “grow poor” (מוּךְ) binds the whole jubilee chapter (Leviticus 25:25, 39, 47) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The verb that opens this unit, מוּךְ (mûwk, “to grow poor,” H4134), is one of the rarest in the Hebrew Bible — five verses in all, and four of them in Leviticus 25, structuring the entire jubilee legislation into a sequence of deepening poverty. At 25:25 the brother grows poor and sells part of his land (redemption of property); at 25:35 (this unit) he grows poorer still and his hand wavers (relief and no usury); at 25:39 he grows poorer yet and sells himself to a fellow Israelite (the bondservant law); at 25:47 he hits bottom and sells himself to a resident stranger (redemption from a foreigner). The Verifier confirms mûwk shared across 25:25, 25:39, and 25:47, and at 25:47 it shares with this unit not only mûwk but the rare pair gêr/tôwšāḇ (H1616 + H8453, “stranger and sojourner,” the latter in only 13 vv) — the exact phrase of 25:35, now turned inside out: there the poor brother is treated like a stranger among brothers; here he is actually sold to a stranger. Cambridge cross-references 25:25 directly (“be waxen poor: See on Leviticus 25:25”). The recurrence of mûwk is the spine of the chapter; because the word is so rare, the link is verbal, not merely thematic.

Leviticus 25:35 · Leviticus 25:25 · Leviticus 25:39 · Leviticus 25:47

basis: shared rare lexeme H4134 mûwk (in only 5 vv, four of them in Lev 25) across 25:25, 25:39, 25:47; at 25:47 also the rare pair H1616 gêr + H8453 tôwshâb (in only 13 vv) — the very 'stranger and sojourner' phrase of 25:35. The extreme rarity of mûwk forces a verbal tier; it is the structural spine of the jubilee chapter, not a quotation

“I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt” — the Holiness Code refrain and the Decalogue preface structural / thematic — confirmed

The closing self-identification of v. 38 — “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” — is the signature refrain of the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26) and, word for word, the preface to the Ten Commandments. Gill names the tie directly: “this, it may be remarked, is the preface to the ten commandments” (Exodus 20:2). Ellicott points to the same formula recurring through the legislation. The redemption-from-Egypt clause grounds command after command in Leviticus — the love of the resident alien (19:33–34, cited by Ellicott on v. 35: “the same consideration which strangers and sojourners receive”), the prohibition of harsh rule (25:42–43, 55). Held honestly: this is a thematic/structural thread, not a verbal one keyed to a single rare lexeme — the formula recurs by design across the whole Holiness Code and the Decalogue, so we tier it structural and rest it on the documented refrain, not on a forced lexical match. The point stands on the commentators’ own cross-references: every law in this section is hung on the same act of redemption.

Leviticus 25:38 · Exodus 20:2 · Leviticus 19:33 · Leviticus 25:55

basis: the recurring Holiness-Code self-identification formula 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt' (Exodus 20:2 = the Decalogue preface, named by Gill; Lev 19:33–34 and 25:55, cited by Ellicott and Barnes). A deliberately recurring refrain across the legislation, not a rare-lexeme echo — tiered structural and rested on the documented formula, under-claimed rather than asserted as verbal

Freely you received, freely give — the gospel logic of the redemption-motive widely-held

The law’s engine is grace: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (v. 38). Gill reads the mercy commanded here straight out of the mercy received — once “strangers and sojourners” in Egypt, freely given “jewels of gold and silver,” the redeemed “should lend freely to persons in distress.” Matthew Henry states the principle that the New Testament will make explicit: “It becomes those that have received mercy to show mercy.” This is precisely the gospel pattern: the servant forgiven an unpayable debt is bound to forgive his fellow (Matthew 18:32–33); “freely you received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8); “be kind… forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). The greater Redemption — out of a slavery deeper than Egypt — grounds a greater generosity. Held as a figure to test: this is a typological reading of the redemption-motive, cross-Testament and therefore not anchored on any shared Strong’s number; it is argued from the shared logic (redeemed-therefore-merciful) that both Testaments make explicit, and offered to be weighed against the Word.

Leviticus 25:38 · Matthew 18:32 · Ephesians 4:32

The Brother who grips the failing hand — and the debt He cancels novel

The unit’s two governing images point past themselves. The command is to lay hold of a failing brother (ḥāzaq, v. 35) — to grip the wavering hand and lift it — while refusing to take a bite (nešeḵ, v. 36) out of his need. Both find their fullness in Christ. He is the brother “not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11), who takes hold of the sinking (the same picture as Matthew 14:31, where Jesus “stretched forth his hand, and caught” the drowning Peter); and He is the One who, far from exacting the debt, cancels it outright — “having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting… that was against us… nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:13–14). Where the law forbade the lender to gnaw the borrower, the gospel shows the Lender bearing the whole loss Himself. Held as a figure to test: this typology is the trajectory of Hebrews 2 (Christ the brother who helps) and of the debt-language the New Testament uses for redemption; the move from Leviticus’ usury-law to Christ’s self-emptying cancellation is a figural extension, cross-Testament and not lexical, offered to be weighed and not asserted as the plain sense.

Leviticus 25:35 · Leviticus 25:36 · Hebrews 2:11 · Colossians 2:14