Usury

How Nave’s arranged it

• (Interest, not necessarily unreasonable exaction, but all income from loans)
• ForbiddenExodus 22:25Leviticus 25:35–37Deuteronomy 23:19Psalms 15:5Proverbs 28:8Jeremiah 15:10Ezekiel 18:8Ezekiel 18:13Ezekiel 18:17Ezekiel 22:12
• Exaction of, rebukedNehemiah 5:1–13
• Authorized, of strangers (foreigners)Deuteronomy 23:20
• Exacted by JewsEzekiel 22:12
• Just men innocent of the vice of requiringEzekiel 18:8
• See Interest
• See Money

The passages, in Bible order (12)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 12 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 22:25

   If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 22:251 voice

   “There is a great deal about sharing and exchanging, but it is enough to say that the law forbids lending at interest to a brother. By brother it means not merely one born of the same parents but a member of the same tribe or one of the same faith, who shares in the same Logos. The law does not deem it right to collect interest on the capital. It seeks to enable free giving to those in need, with hands and minds wide open. God is the creator of this free gift.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 22:25→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Leviticus 25:35–37

   Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 25:35–372 voices

   “And if thy brother be waxen poor,....

   “Rather, And if thy brother (an Israelite) becomes poor and falls into decay with thee, thou shalt assist him and let him live with thee like a resident foreigner. He was not to be regarded as an outcast, but was to be treated with the same respect and consideration as a resident foreigner who, like him, could possess no land, but could accumulate property and live in comfort as a free man. See Lev 16:29 note.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 25:35–37→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Deuteronomy 23:19

   Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:192 voices

   “[Scripture] orders money to be returned without usury. It is a mark of kindly feeling to help one who has nothing. It is a sign of a hard nature to extort more than one has given. If one has need of your assistance because he has not enough of his own wherewith to repay a debt, is it not a wicked thing to demand under the guise of kindly feeling a larger sum from him who has not the means to pay off a lesser amount?

   “Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother,....

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 23:19→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Deuteronomy 23:20

   You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:201 voice

   “Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury,....

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 23:20→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Nehemiah 5:1–13

   About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.

   ›Commentary on Nehemiah 5:1–132 voices

   “And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives, etc. Indeed, the people desired to build the city wall, but due to the great famine, they were hindered from the sacred work. This famine was caused not only by the shortage of …

   “And there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives,.... Those of the poorer sort: against their brethren the Jews; the rich that oppressed them; and this cry or complaint was made to Nehemiah for redress.

   Everything gathered on Nehemiah 5:1–13→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Psalms 15:5

   who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 15:52 voices

   “What is more cruel than to lend money to one who has none and then to exact double the amount? If one cannot pay the simple amount, how will he pay double?… Nations have often failed because of usury, and this has been the cause of public calamity.

   “He that putteth not out his money to usury,....

   Everything gathered on Psalms 15:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Proverbs 28:8

   He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 28:82 voices

   “He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance,.... By biting and oppressing the poor; letting him have money at an exorbitant interest, and goods at an exorbitant price, and so increases his substance in this scandalous manner; hence usury is in Lev 25:36, called "increase", and by the Greeks τοκος, a "birth", because money is the birth of money, as Aristotle (e) observes; and so by the Latins "foenus", as if it was "foetus" (f), "a birth".

   “He that by usury - increaseth his substance - By taking unlawful interest for his money; lending to a man in great distress, money, for the use of which he requires an exorbitant sum. O that the names of all those unfeeling, hard-hearted, consummate villains in the nation, who thus take advantage of their neighbour’s necessities to enrich themselves, were published at every market cross; and then the delinquents all sent to their brother savages in New Zealand. It would be a happy riddance to the country.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 28:8→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Jeremiah 15:10

   Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 15:102 voices

   “(Verse 10) Woe to me, my mother, why did you give birth to me as a man of strife (or judgment), a man of discord (or one who judges), in the whole world? This can be understood συνεκδοχικῶς from Jeremiah, that he was judged not in the entire world, but in the land of Judah.

   “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of strife,....

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 15:10→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Ezekiel 18:8

   He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.

   ›Commentary on Ezekiel 18:82 voices

   “He that hath not given forth upon usury,....

   “10. Hath not given forth upon usury - בנשך לא יתן beneshech lo yitten. נשך nasach signifies to bite; usury is properly so termed, because it bites into and devours the principal. Usury signifies, with us, exacting unlawful interest for money; and taking the advantage of a man’s necessities to advance him cash on exorbitant profit. This bites the receiver in his property, and the lender in his salvation.

   Everything gathered on Ezekiel 18:8→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Ezekiel 18:13

    He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 18:132 voices

    “Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase,....

    “(Ver. 10 and following) But if he has fathered a son who is a robber, shedding blood, and he has committed one of these (or, as the Septuagint has translated, if he has committed sins: if he has not walked in the way of his righteous father), and he does all these things, not abstaining from them, but rather feasting on the mountains, defiling the wife of his neighbor, oppressing the needy and the poor, seizing plunder, not returning pledges, lifting his eyes to idols, committing abominations, engaging in usury, and taking more, will he live?

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 18:13→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Ezekiel 18:17

    He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 18:172 voices

    “That hath taken off his hand from the poor,....

    “He shall not die for the iniquity of his father - He shall no more be affected by his father’s crimes, than his father was benefited by his grandfather’s righteousness.

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 18:17→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Ezekiel 22:12

    In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 22:122 voices

    “(Chapter 22, Verses 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, do you not judge the city of blood, and show her all her abominations? And say: Thus says the Lord God: The city that sheds blood within herself, so that her time may come, and that has made idols against herself to defile herself. In your blood that was shed, you have sinned, and you have defiled yourself with your idols that you have made.

    “In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood.....

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 22:12→

    Verse page →Original language →