Thematic Bible: Usury or interest


Thematic Bible



"If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.

"'If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident. Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you. You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.


He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be upended.

does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing, promotes true justice between men, and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. That man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the sovereign Lord.


Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest!

Why then didn't you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?'


You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest.


You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.


Then I said, "The thing that you are doing is wrong! Should you not conduct yourselves in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? Even I and my relatives and my associates are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil." read more.
They replied, "We will return these things, and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say." Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials swear to do what had been promised. I also shook out my garment, and I said, "In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!" All the assembly replied, "So be it!" and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised.


You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.


I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them, "Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen!" Because of them I called for a great public assembly.


I said, "Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt."


Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants. Everyone will suffer -- the priest as well as the people, the master as well as the servant, the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, the seller as well as the buyer, the borrower as well as the lender, the creditor as well as the debtor.




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