Thematic Bible: Creditor


Thematic Bible



"Indeed, you have required a pledge from your family for nothing, and you have stripped off [the] clothes of [the] naked. Verse ConceptsCreditBorrowing, SuretyGuaranteeFalse AccusationsPeople Stripping Peoplelent

They drive away [the] donkey of orphans; they take [the] widow's ox as a pledge. Verse ConceptsOxenCreditAbhorGuaranteeOppression, Nature OfOrphansWidowsCreditorsOwning LivestockNot Helping Widows

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. Verse ConceptsCreditLonelinessPoverty, Causes OfPoverty, Attitudes TowardsRiches, Believers AttitudesSchool Of ProphetsServanthood, In SocietySlavery, In OtSuffering, HardshipOppression, Examples OfCreditorsFear Of God, Examples OfDebtorsWidowsSons Of The ProphetsTwo SonsActual WidowsslaveryGodly WomanDebtSchoolBeing A Woman Of GodLeaving Parents For Spouse


{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. Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!

For as you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to come to a settlement with him on the way, so that he will not drag you to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff will throw you into prison. I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid back even the last cent!"

Now there was a great cry of distress of the people and of their wives [against] their Jewish brothers. There were those who were saying, "Our sons and daughters, we are many. We must get grain so that we may eat and live." 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." read more.
And there were those who were saying, "We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards for the tax of the king. Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. {We are powerless}, and our fields and vineyards [belong] to others." I was very angry when I heard their shouts and these words. 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? 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. I also shook out my garment and said, "This is how God will shake out everyone from his house who will not keep this promise. So this is how his possessions will be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised Yahweh, and the people kept this promise.

Returning [the] products of [his] toil, he will not swallow; according to the profit of his trade, {he will not enjoy}, for he has oppressed; he has abandoned [the] poor; he has seized a house but did not build it. Because he has not known satisfaction in his stomach, {he lets nothing escape that he desires}.

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?

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. read more.
So [when] his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed, and went [and] reported to their master everything that had happened. Then his master summoned him [and] said to him, 'Wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you implored me! Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?' And [because he] was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers until he would repay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from your hearts!"



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

'If you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years, and in the seventh he will go out as free for nothing. If he comes in single, he will go out single. If he is the husband of a wife, his wife will go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears for him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master, and [the slave] will go out single. read more.
But if the slave explicitly says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free," his master will present him to God and bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve him forever.

" '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}. 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 when you sell something to your fellow citizen or [you] buy from your neighbor's hand, you must not oppress {one another}. You must buy from your fellow citizen according to [the] number of years after the Jubilee; he must sell to you according to [the] number of years of yield. You must increase its price {according to a greater number of years}, but you must decrease its price {according to a lesser number of years}, because he is selling [its] yields to you. read more.
And you must not oppress {one another}, but you shall revere your God, because I [am] Yahweh, your God.

" 'And if your countryman becomes poor and {if he becomes dependent on you}, then you shall support him [like] an alien and [like] a temporary resident, and he shall live with you. 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.

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.

"{You shall not charge your brother interest on money}, interest on food, or interest on anything that one could lend on interest 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}.

"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 if [he is] a needy man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. read more.
You shall certainly return the pledge to him {as the sun sets}, so that he may sleep in his cloak and may bless you, and it shall be [considered] righteousness {on your behalf} {before} Yahweh your God.

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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]! Verse ConceptsHope, Nature OfGiving Without Expecting ReturnGiving Backexpectationslent

[It goes] well [for] a man [who] is gracious and lends, [who] conducts his {business properly}. Verse ConceptsGenerosity, HumanBeing In DebtDiscretionGrace, In Human RelationshipsInterestLendingJusticeConfidentialityA Good Manfairness

"For this [reason] the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. And [when] he began to settle [them], someone was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents. 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. read more.
Then the slave threw himself to the ground [and] began to do obeisance to him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything to you!' So the master of that slave, [because he] had compassion, released him and forgave him the loan.

"There were two debtors [who owed] a certain creditor. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. [When] they were not able to repay [him], he forgave [the debts] of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered [and] said, "I suppose that [it is the one] to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged correctly."