From Nave’s Topical Bible
Usury
Every passage the 1896 Nave’s Topical Biblegathers under this heading, in Nave’s own arrangement and then in Bible order. MannaFest has not written this page — it is the older index, transcribed, with the Word travelling beside each reference.
- 12Passages listed
- 8Books of the 66
- 1896Nave's edition
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.
- 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 22:252 voices
And such provision the law made for the preserving estates to their families by the year of Jubilee, that a people who had little concern in trade could not be supposed to borrow money but for necessity; therefore it was generally forbidden among themselves; but to a stranger they were allowed to lend upon usury.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Evangelical
Neither shalt thou lay upon him usury - נשך neshech, from nashach, to bite, cut, or pierce with the teeth; biting usury. So the Latins call it usura vorax, devouring usury. “The increase of usury is called נשך neshech, because it resembles the biting of a serpent; for as this is so small as scarcely to be perceptible at first, but the venom soon spreads and diffuses itself till it reaches the vitals, so the increase of usury, which at first is not perceived nor felt, at length grows so much as by degrees to devour another’s substance.” - Leigh.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- 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 25:35–371 voice
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.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- 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?
Ambrose of Milan· On the Duties of the Clergy 3.3.20Patristic
By this it appears that usury is not in itself oppressive; for they must not oppress a stranger, and yet might exact usury from him. The performance of the vows wherewith we have bound our souls is here required; and it is a branch of the law of nature,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
- 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
By this it appears that usury is not in itself oppressive; for they must not oppress a stranger, and yet might exact usury from him. The performance of the vows wherewith we have bound our souls is here required; and it is a branch of the law of nature,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
- 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 5:1–131 voice
The condition of the poorer inhabitants was indeed deplorable; for, besides the deficient harvests caused by the great rains (Ezr 10:9; also Hag 1:6-11), a dearth was now threatened by the enemy keeping such a multitude pent up in the city, and preventing the country people bringing in provisions.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
- 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
"He that putteth not out his money to usury." Usury was and is hateful both to God and man. That a lender should share with the borrower in gains made by his money is most fitting and proper; but that the man of property should eat up the poor wretch who unfortunately obtained a loan of him is abominable. Those who grind poor tradesmen, needy widows, and such like, by charging them interest at intolerable rates, will find that their gold, and their silver are cankered.
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 1869
To usury - In such a manner as is contrary to God's law: of which see otherwise, Exod. xxii, 25 Levit xxv, 36, 37, &c. Reward - Or, a bribe for him who hath a bad cause.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Evangelical
- 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 28:81 voice
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".
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)Reformed
- 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.
Jerome· Commentary on JeremiahPatristic
A man of contention to the whole earth! - To the whole Land, to all his countrymen; though he had done nothing to merit their displeasure.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- 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 18:81 voice
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.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- 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
(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?
Jerome· Commentary on EzekielPatristic
'Tis plural, bloods; both the blood of the innocent which he murdered, and his own blood which thereby he forfeited; the blood of his own soul and life: that is the whole blame of his misery in time and eternity, shall lie upon himself.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Evangelical
- 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
Hezekiah, of Ahaz (2Ki 16:1-20; 21:1-22:20). seeth . . . and considereth--The same Hebrew stands for both verbs, "seeth . . . yea, seeth." The repetition implies the attentive observation needed, in order that the son may not be led astray by his father's bad example; as sons generally are blind to parents sins, and even imitate them as if they were virtues.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
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.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- 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 22:121 voice
Those that pervert their ways forget the Lord their God, Jer. iii. He is to pass sentence upon Jerusalem for these crimes. Let her know that she has filled up the measure of her iniquity, and that her sins are such as forbid delays and call for speedy vengeance.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan