Topic
Pledge
27 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Deuteronomy 24:10–13ISBE · Nave A creditor must not enter the house of a debtor to take
¶ When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with…
- Genesis 38:17ISBE
And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
- Genesis 38:17–24ISBE
And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it…
- Genesis 38:17–20Nave General scriptures concerning
And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it…
- Genesis 38:18ISBE
And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
- Genesis 38:20ISBE
And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not.
- Exodus 22:26ISBE
If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:
- Deuteronomy 24:6ISBE
¶ No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.
- Deuteronomy 24:10ISBE
¶ When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
- Deuteronomy 24:11ISBE
Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
- Deuteronomy 24:12ISBE
And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
- Deuteronomy 24:13ISBE
In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.
Show 15 more
- Deuteronomy 24:17 ISBE
- 1 Samuel 17:18 ISBE
- 2 Kings 18:23 ISBE
- Job 22:6 ISBE
- Job 24:3 ISBE
- Job 24:9 ISBE
- Proverbs 20:16 ISBE
- Isaiah 36:8 ISBE
- Ezekiel 18:7 ISBE
- Ezekiel 18:12 ISBE
- Ezekiel 18:16 ISBE
- Ezekiel 33:15 ISBE
- Amos 2:8 ISBE
- Habakkuk 2:6 ISBE
- 1 Timothy 5:12 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 0 references
See LOAN.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 0 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 33 references
plej (verbs chabhal (10 times), `arabh (2Ki 18:23 equals Isa 36:8); nouns chahal (Eze 18:12,16; 33:15), chabcholah (Eze 18:7), `arubbah), (1Sa 17:18), erabhon (Ge 38:17,18,20); also abhoT (De 24:10-13) and (the Revised Version (British and American) only) abhTiT (Hab 2:6)): All these words have about the same meaning.
(1) The "pledge" is, as in modern English, security given for future payment (Ge 38:17-24) or conduct (Hab 2:6, where the conquered nations have given guaranties of their subserviency to the Chaldeans; the King James Version's "thick clay" here rests on a misreading of the Hebrew). In 2Ki 18:23 (equals Isa 36:8) the "pledge" is a wager (so the Revised Version margin). Rabshakeh mockingly dares Hezekiah to stake a "pledge" that he can produce 2,000 men for the defense of Jerusalem, although the mighty Assyrian host has that number of horses alone. The general point of the obscure passage Pr 20:16 (equals 27:13) is that he who guarantees strangers needs a guaranty himself. 1Sa 17:18 is uncertain and the text may be corrupt. If not, the "pledge" is some (prearranged?) token of the welfare of David's brethren.
(2) Most of the occurrences of "pledge," however, deal with the debts of the very poor, who had no property that they could spare even temporarily. Consequently, the exaction of a pledge from such persons worked genuine hardship, and to take a pledge at all was a cruel act (Job 24:3), although of course the dishonesty of withholding a pledge (Eze 18:7; 33:15) was worse. Lowest in the scale was the creditor who took the garment the borrower was wearing (Am 2:8; Job 22:6; 24:9 margin), and special legislation controlled this practice. A garment (the outer "cloak" (see DRESS) not worn while doing manual labor) so taken must be restored at night (Ex 22:26; De 24:12,13), for it was the usual covering of the sleeper. (Apparently, though, the creditor regained custody of it in the daytime until the debt was paid.) A widow's clothing, however, was entirely exempt (De 24:17), as was the handmill used for bread-making (De 24:6). The lender had no right of entry into the borrower's house to obtain the pledge (De 24:10,11), but it is not said that he could not dictate what he would accept; indeed, the contrary is inconceivable.
(3) the American Standard Revised Version gives "pledge" for the King James Version and the English Revised Version "faith" in 1Ti 5:12.
See also EARNEST.
Burton Scott Easton
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 2 references, grouped by sub-topic
- → General scriptures concerning Ge 38:17-20
- → A creditor must not enter the house of a debtor to take De 24:10-13
- → See PAWN
- → See SURETY (guarantee)
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.