Deuteronomy 23:19
in Deuteronomy 23Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother; interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that is lent upon interest.
KJV
Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verse[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?
This site's exposition
Thou shalt not lend upon usury
on Deuteronomy 23:19-23
Interest may be taken of a stranger and not of a brother, which is the line Exodus 22:25 and Leviticus 25:35-37 draw, and Psalm 15:5 and Ezekiel 18:8 make lending without it a mark of the righteous man. Henry reads the permission toward the stranger as evidence that interest is not oppressive in itself, while Ambrose and the canonists after him took the passage as a bar on lending at interest at all. Vows are voluntary, and verse 22 says outright that it is no sin to make none, though what has gone out of the lips binds once it is spoken, which Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 repeats almost line for line. Numbers 30 sets out the law of vows at length, and Judges 11:30-39 is where one spoken in haste is carried through to its end.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
This among them would be little or no loss to the lender, because their land was so divided, their estates so settled, and there was so little a merchandise among them, that it was seldom or never they had occasion to borrow any great sums, but only for the subsistence of their family, or some uncommon emergence.
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,
Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother,....
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַשִּׁ֣יךְ | tashikh | you will charge interest | H5391 → | 16 times |
| לְאָחִ֔יךָ | leachikha | to countryman your | H251 → | 630 times |
| נֶ֥שֶׁךְ | neshekh | interest of | H5392 → | 12 times |
| כֶּ֖סֶף | kesef | money | H3701 → | 403 times |
| נֶ֣שֶׁךְ | neshekh | interest of | H5392 → | 12 times |
| אֹ֑כֶל | ʾokhel | food | H400 → | 43 times |
| נֶ֕שֶׁךְ | neshekh | interest of | H5392 → | 12 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| דָּבָ֖ר | davar | thing | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִשָּֽׁךְ׃ | yishakh | someone will pay interest | H5391 → | 16 times |
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תַשִּׁ֣יךְyou will charge interest
tashikhH5391 →16 times
לְאָחִ֔יךָto countryman your
leachikhaH251 →630 times
נֶ֥שֶׁךְinterest of
neshekhH5392 →12 times
כֶּ֖סֶףmoney
kesefH3701 →403 times
נֶ֣שֶׁךְinterest of
neshekhH5392 →12 times
אֹ֑כֶלfood
ʾokhelH400 →43 times
נֶ֕שֶׁךְinterest of
neshekhH5392 →12 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
דָּבָ֖רthing
davarH1697 →1440 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יִשָּֽׁךְ׃someone will pay interest
yishakhH5391 →16 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
it leads to
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 16:19
Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
- 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.
- Matthew 7:21–25
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- Exodus 22:25
Through
Exodus 22:25If 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.
it leads to
- 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.
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 23:19–20
Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
- Leviticus 25:35–37
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.3.20; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.