Hebrew word · H5383

נָשָׁה

nosheh

to lend

This is the participle of nāshāh, "to lend on interest / to be a creditor". It means a lender or creditor, often a hard one who comes to collect (2 Kgs 4:1; Ps 109:11; Exod 22:25, where Israelites are told not to act like a nōsheh toward the poor).

Appears 12 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to lend, be a creditor

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to lend

1a2) creditor (participle) (subst)

1b) (Hiphil) to lend

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 50:1

Range of meaning

This is the participle of nāshāh, "to lend on interest / to be a creditor". It means a lender or creditor, often a hard one who comes to collect (2 Kgs 4:1; Ps 109:11; Exod 22:25, where Israelites are told not to act like a nōsheh toward the poor).

Against the English

All the major versions say "creditors". That is accurate. The cultural picture behind it is not obvious to a modern reader.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kgs 4:1: "the creditor (nōsheh) has come to take my two children to be his slaves." Neh 5:5: "we are forcing our sons and daughters into slavery" because of debt. Exod 21:7 regulates a man selling his daughter. Mesopotamian law codes such as Hammurabi §117 also deal with a man handing over his wife or children to work off a debt. That law limited the service to three years.

From the study of 2 Kings 4:1

Range of meaning

From nashah, "to lend (against security), to be a creditor." The participle means a lender or creditor who holds a claim, usually backed by a pledge or by the debtor's own person and family. A related noun, mashsheh, means "loan, debt" (Deut 15:2; Neh 10:31).

Against the English

"Creditor" (BSB, KJV, WEB, ESV, NIV) and "lender" (YLT) are both accurate. BSB and NIV write "his creditor," tying the debt to the husband. The Hebrew has only "the creditor," though the sense is the same.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 22:25 (Hebrew 22:24): "If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not be to him as a nosheh; you shall not lay interest on him." Isa 50:1: "Which of my creditors (nosheh) is it to whom I sold you?" Neh 5:7 describes nobles "exacting" (nashah) from their brothers until children were enslaved. In the ancient Near East, Hammurabi's laws (§117) allowed a debtor's wife, son or daughter to be handed over to work off a debt.

From the study of Exodus 22:25

Range of meaning

Participle of nashah, 'to lend on credit, to hold a debt against someone'. The nosheh is the creditor in his role as collector: the one who demands repayment and seizes pledges.

Against the English

'Creditor' (BSB, WEB, NASB) is correct, but in modern English it is a neutral accounting word. 'Moneylender' (ESV) and 'usurer' (KJV) bring in the idea of a professional lender. The NIV's paraphrase about not treating it 'like a business deal' catches the stance well but loses the menacing figure. In biblical narrative the nosheh is a frightening person.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kings 4:1: a prophet's widow cries that 'the creditor (nosheh) has come to take my two children to be his slaves'. 1 Samuel 22:2: David's band includes everyone who had a nosheh. Isaiah 50:1 asks 'to which of my creditors did I sell you?' Psalm 109:11 curses: 'may the creditor seize all he has'. Nehemiah 5:7–11 condemns nobles for acting as creditors (nashim) to their brothers, which was leading to the enslavement of Judean children.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 22:25 כְּנֹשֶׁ֑ה like a creditor

    If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

    Here: 'Like a nosheh', the creditor who holds a debt and presses to collect it. Elsewhere this figure seizes pledges and even a debtor's children (2 Kings 4:1). Israelites are not to take on that persona toward the poor.

Deuteronomy · 3

  1. Deuteronomy 15:2 יַשֶּׁ֖ה he will lend

    This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.

  2. Deuteronomy 24:10 תַשֶּׁ֥ה you will lend

    When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security.

  3. Deuteronomy 24:11 נֹשֶׁ֣ה [are] lending

    You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 4:1 וְהַ֨נֹּשֶׁ֔ה and the creditor

    Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”

    Here: "The lender," a technical term for someone who has lent against security and now holds a claim on the debtor. The same word appears in Exodus 22:25, which forbids Israel to act "as a creditor" toward the poor.

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 5:10 נֹשִׁ֥ים [are] lending

    I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.

  2. Nehemiah 5:11 נֹשִׁ֥ים [are] lending

    Please restore to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you have been assessing them.”

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 109:11 נ֭וֹשֶׁה a creditor

    May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 24:2 כַּנֹּשֶׁ֕ה as the creditor

    people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

  2. Isaiah 50:1 מִנּוֹשַׁ֔י [is one] of creditors my

    This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

    Here: "Of my creditors": people a debtor owes money to. The idea of YHWH owing anyone money is absurd, and that is the point.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 15:10 נָשִׁ֥יתִי נָֽשׁוּ־ I have lent, people have lent

    Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

    Here: "I have not been a creditor." He has never been on the side of a loan that breeds resentment, such as calling in debts or taking pledges.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.