Reference: Debt
Easton
The Mosaic law encouraged the practice of lending (De 15:7; Ps 37:26; Mt 5:42); but it forbade the exaction of interest except from foreigners. Usury was strongly condemned (Pr 28:8; Eze 18:8,13,17; 22:12; Ps 15:5). On the Sabbatical year all pecuniary obligations were cancelled (De 15:1-11). These regulations prevented the accumulation of debt.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"At the end of seven years you shall grant remission of debt. 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. read more. [With respect to] the foreigner you may exact payment, but {you must remit} what shall be [owed] to you [with respect to] your brother. Nevertheless, there shall not be among you a poor [person], because Yahweh will certainly bless you in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as] an inheritance, to take possession of it. If only you listen well to the voice of Yahweh your God {by observing diligently} all of these commandments that I [am] commanding you {today}. When Yahweh your God has blessed you, [just] as he {promised} to you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow [from them], and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}.
If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}. But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and {you shall willingly lend} [to] him enough to meet his need, {whatever it is}. read more. {Take care} so that there will not be {a thought of wickedness} in your heart, {saying}, 'The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,' {and you view your needy neighbor with hostility}, and [so] you [do] not give to him, and he might cry [out] against you to Yahweh, and {you would incur guilt against yourself}. By all means you must give to him, and {you must not be discontented} at your giving to him, because on account of this [very] thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and {in all that you undertake}. For the poor will not cease to be {among you} [in] the land; therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor [that are] in your land.'
He does not lend his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against [the] innocent. He who does these [things] will never be shaken.
He who augments his wealth with interest and with usury gathers it for him who is kind to the poor.
[and] {he does not charge interest} and he takes no usury, [and] he holds back his hand from injustice [and] he executes judgment of fairness between {persons},
{He charges interest} and takes usury. Then, shall he live? He shall not live, [for] he did all of these detestable things. Surely he will die! His blood will be on him.
He brings back his hand from iniquity; he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live!
They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain [from] your neighbors by extortion, and [so] you have forgotten me, {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Hastings
DEBT
1. In OT.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
" '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}.
" 'And six years you will sow your land and gather its yield.
You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you.
"{You shall not charge your brother interest on money}, interest on food, or interest on anything that one could lend on interest
"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}.
Yahweh shall open for you his {rich} storehouse, [even] the heavens, to give the rain for your land in its time and to bless all of the work of your hand, and you will lend to many nations; you will not borrow [from them].
He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be [the] head, but you shall be [the] tail.
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. Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" Then she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil." read more. Then he said to her, "Go, ask for yourself [some] containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. {You must collect as many empty containers as you can}! You must also go and shut the door behind you and your children, and you must pour out [oil] into all of these containers and set the filled [ones] aside." So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They [were] bringing [containers] to her, and she [kept] pouring. It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring near me another container," but he said to her, "There is not another container." Then the olive oil stopped flowing. So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over."
And the peoples of the land who bring merchandise and any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not accept it from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. We will forego [the crops of] the seventh year and [cancel] every debt.
They drive away [the] donkey of orphans; they take [the] widow's ox as a pledge.
He does not lend his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against [the] innocent. He who does these [things] will never be shaken.
[The] wicked borrows and does not repay, but [the] righteous [is] gracious and gives.
[The] wicked borrows and does not repay, but [the] righteous [is] gracious and gives.
He who lends to Yahweh [is] he who is kind to the poor, and his benefits he will repay to him.
The rich will rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave of {the lender}.
He who augments his wealth with interest and with usury gathers it for him who is kind to the poor.
And it shall be as [with] the people, so [with] the priest; as [with] the slave, so [with] his master; as [with] the female slave, so [with] her mistress; as [with] the buyer, so [with] the seller; as [with] the lender, so [with] the borrower; as [with] the creditor, so [with] [the one] to whom he lends.
Thus says Yahweh: "Where [is] this divorce document of your mother's divorce, [with] which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.
Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling {to the whole land}. I have not lent out and {I have not borrowed}. All of them [are] cursing me.
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
"For this [reason] the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
"For this [reason] the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
Then you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and [when I] returned I would have gotten back [what was] mine with interest!
And if you lend [to those] from whom you expect to receive [back], what kind of credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may get back an equal [amount]! But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting back nothing, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
"There were two debtors [who owed] a certain creditor. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty.
And he summoned each one of his own master's debtors [and] said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, [when I] returned, would have collected it with interest?'
having destroyed the certificate of indebtedness in ordinances against us, which was hostile to us, and removed it out of the way [by] nailing it to the cross.