13 Bible Verses about Creditors

I thought over this in my heart, and then I quarreled with the nobles and the prefects. I said to them, "You yourselves are taking interest from your own brother!" So I called the great assembly against them, and I said to them: "We ourselves have bought back our brothers the Jews who were sold to the nations as we were able. But now you yourselves have sold your brothers so they may be sold to us!" They were silent and could not find a word [to say]. So I said, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God [to prevent] the disgrace from the nations, our enemies?

They drive away [the] donkey of orphans; they take [the] widow's ox as a pledge. They thrust [the] poor off the road; [the] needy of [the] earth hide themselves together. "Look, [like] wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor [as] searchers for the prey; [the] wilderness [is] {their} food for the young. read more.
They reap their fodder in the field, and they glean [in the] vineyard of [the] wicked. They spend the night naked, {without} clothing, and [they] have no garment in the cold. They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains, and they cling to the rock {without} refuge. "They snatch [the] orphan from [the] breast, and they take a pledge against [the] needy.

But that slave went out [and] found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and taking hold of him, he began to choke [him], saying, 'Pay back everything that you owe!' Then his fellow slave threw himself to the ground [and] began to implore him, saying, 'Be patient with me and I will repay you!' But he did not want to, but rather he went [and] threw him into prison until he would repay what was owed.

"For this [reason] the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

{Settle the case quickly with your accuser} while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

So also my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from your hearts!"

Also, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please stop [taking] this interest. Please restore to them this day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, their houses, and the interest on the money, the grain, the grape juice, and the olive oil that you have been taking from them." So they said, "We will restore it and will not request [anything more]. So we will do as you say." Then I called the priests and made them take an oath to do this promise.

So the master of that slave, [because he] had compassion, released him and forgave him the loan.

[When] they were not able to repay [him], he forgave [the debts] of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

"They snatch [the] orphan from [the] breast, and they take a pledge against [the] needy.

And [because] he did not have [enough] to repay [it], the master ordered him to be sold, and his wife and his children and everything that he had, and to be repaid.

Do not be with those who {give a pledge} {by becoming} surety. If there is nothing for you to pay, why will he take your bed from under you?

He will suffer trouble when he loans to a stranger, but he who refuses a pledge is safe.

" 'If you lend money [to] my people, [to] the needy with you, you will not be to him as a creditor; you will not {charge him interest}.

You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you. You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit.

Do not be with those who {give a pledge} {by becoming} surety.

My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger,

{Settle the case quickly with your accuser} while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

And [because he] was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers until he would repay everything that was owed.

And [because] he did not have [enough] to repay [it], the master ordered him to be sold, and his wife and his children and everything that he had, and to be repaid.

'If you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years, and in the seventh he will go out as free for nothing.

Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became {their commander}. Now there [were] about four hundred men with him.

And he summoned each one of his own master's debtors [and] said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' So he said to him, 'Take your promissory note and sit down quickly [and] write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'

"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}. You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you.

And this [is] the manner of the remission of debt: every {creditor} shall remit his claim that he holds against his neighbor, and he shall not exact payment [from] his brother because there remission of debt has been proclaimed unto Yahweh. [With respect to] the foreigner you may exact payment, but {you must remit} what shall be [owed] to you [with respect to] your brother.

"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}.

You may lend on interest to the foreigner, but to your countryman you may not lend on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you {in all your undertakings} in {the land where you are going}, {in order to take possession of it}.

"A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

If indeed you require the cloak of your neighbor as a pledge, you will return it to him at sundown, because it is his only garment; it is his cloak for his skin. In what will he sleep? {And} when he cries out to me, I will hear, because I [am] gracious.

And [because] he did not have [enough] to repay [it], the master ordered him to be sold, and his wife and his children and everything that he had, and to be repaid.

And again I testify to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.

But if in anything he has caused you loss or owes [you anything], {charge this to my account}.

There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine."

And he said, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' So he said to him, 'Take your promissory note and sit down quickly [and] write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'