Hebrew word · H5667

עֲבוֹט

ha'avot

pledge

A pledge or security: a physical object handed over by a borrower as a guarantee that a loan will be repaid. Related verb ʿābaṭ, 'to take or give a pledge, to lend on pledge' (Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10). The noun appears in the Hebrew Bible only in this paragraph (Deut 24:10, 11, 12, 13).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

pledge, a thing given as security, article pledged as security for debt

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 Deuteronomy 24:12

Range of meaning

A pledge or security: a physical object handed over by a borrower as a guarantee that a loan will be repaid. Related verb ʿābaṭ, 'to take or give a pledge, to lend on pledge' (Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10). The noun appears in the Hebrew Bible only in this paragraph (Deut 24:10, 11, 12, 13). Elsewhere the Torah uses the near-synonym ḥăbōl/ḥăbōlâ (Exod 22:26; Ezek 18:7) for the same thing.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT say 'pledge'. BSB says 'security'. Modern English 'pledge' usually means a promise or vow ('pledge of allegiance', 'pledge drive'), but here it is a thing: an object in the creditor's hands. 'Security' or 'collateral' gives the right picture today.

How it drifted

English 'pledge' once commonly meant an article given as surety (as in a pawnbroker's pledge). That sense has faded, and the abstract sense of 'promise' now dominates.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 22:26–27 identifies the typical pledge of a poor man as his outer cloak (śalmâ/śimlâ), 'his only covering… in what shall he sleep?' Amos 2:8 condemns those who 'lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge'. The Yavneh-Yam (Meṣad Ḥashavyahu) ostracon (late 7th c. BC, Judah) is a field-worker's petition to an official to get back his garment, which had been seized. The Mishnah (Bava Metzia 9:13) later generalises: a pillow taken as a pledge is returned at night, a plough by day.

From the study of Deuteronomy 24:13

Range of meaning

A pledge in the physical sense: an object handed over and held as security for a debt. It comes from the root ʿ-b-ṭ, 'to take or give a pledge' (Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10). The noun occurs only in Deut 24:10–13. A related word, ʿavtiṭ ('heavy pledges', Hab 2:6), describes extortionate lending.

Against the English

In modern English a 'pledge' (KJV, WEB) is usually a promise. Here it is a thing, the debtor's cloak. BSB's 'security' and others' 'collateral' make the physical sense clearer.

How it drifted

'Pledge' once commonly meant an item pawned or given as surety. That sense survives in 'pawnbroker's pledge' but is now overshadowed by 'pledge' meaning 'promise'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Related laws: Exod 22:25–26 (Heb. 22:24–25); Deut 24:6 (no millstones as pledge), 24:10–11 (the lender must wait outside and let the borrower bring the pledge out), 24:17 (no widow's garment as pledge). The abuse is condemned in Amos 2:8; Job 22:6; 24:3, 9; Ezek 18:7, 12, 16; 33:15. The Mesad Hashavyahu (Yavneh-Yam) ostracon, a late 7th-century BCE potsherd letter, records a field labourer pleading with an official to get back his garment, which had been seized.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 4

  1. Deuteronomy 24:10 עֲבֹטֽוֹ׃ pledge his

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

  2. Deuteronomy 24:11 הַעֲב֖וֹט the pledge

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

  3. Deuteronomy 24:12 בַּעֲבֹטֽוֹ׃ in pledge his

    If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession;

    Here: Preposition bĕ ('in, with') + ʿăbôṭ ('pledge, security') + 'his'. Read one way it means 'with his pledge [still in your keeping]'. Read literally it means 'in his pledge', that is, wrapped in the very garment he gave you. It deliberately mirrors v. 13: 'that he may lie down in his cloak (bĕśalmātô)'.

  4. Deuteronomy 24:13 הַעֲבוֹט֙ the pledge

    be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God.

    Here: The physical object the creditor holds as security for a loan. Here it is clearly the poor man's cloak. The word occurs only in this passage (Deut 24:10–13).

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