Leviticus 25:35

35 `And when thy brother is become poor, and his hand hath failed with thee, then thou hast kept hold on him, sojourner and settler, and he hath lived with thee;

Leviticus 25:35 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:35

And if thy brother be waxen poor
An Israelite, as Aben Ezra, be reduced to a low estate, through afflictions in body, or in family, or through losses in trade, or want of business, or through one providence or another: and fallen in decay with thee;
in his worldly substance: or "his hand wavers", or "fails" ^F16; so that he cannot support himself and his family, has not a sufficiency, or it is not in the power of his hands to do it; and it is not owing to sloth and negligence, but to unavoidable want and necessity: then thou shalt relieve him;
not merely by sympathizing with him, but by communicating to him, and distributing to his necessities; holding him up that he may not utterly fall, and strengthening his hands, that he may have a supply for his present wants: [yea, though he be] a stranger or a sojourner;
whether a proselyte of righteousness, who is circumcised, and in all things conforms to the true religion; or a proselyte of the gate, who takes it upon him not to worship idols, and eat things that die of themselves, as Jarchi notes: that he may live with thee;
continue in the land of Canaan, and not be obliged to quit it, and be laid under temptations of apostatizing from the true religion professed by him, and so far as he is come into it, which would bring a worse death than corporeal upon him; or that he may have a livelihood in some tolerable manner at least, and even live comfortably and cheerfully.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (wdy hjmw) "et nutaverit manus ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Fagius; "vacillabit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Leviticus 25:35 In-Context

33 as to him who redeemeth from the Levites, both the sale of a house and the city of his possession have gone out in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the sons of Israel.

34 And a field, a suburb of their cities, is not sold; for a possession age-during it [is] to them.

35 `And when thy brother is become poor, and his hand hath failed with thee, then thou hast kept hold on him, sojourner and settler, and he hath lived with thee;

36 thou takest no usury from him, or increase; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; and thy brother hath lived with thee;

37 thy money thou givest not to him in usury, and for increase thou givest not thy food;