Keluaran 22:25

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ¹  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ²  to him; do not charge ³  him interest. ⁴ 

Ulangan 23:19-20

Respect for Others’ Property

23:19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, ⁵  whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. 23:20 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.

Nehemia 5:7-10

5:7 I considered these things carefully ⁶  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁷  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁸  from your own countrymen!” ⁹  Because of them I called for ¹⁰  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ¹¹  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ¹²  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

5:9 Then I ¹³  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ¹⁴  Should you not conduct yourselves ¹⁵  in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? 5:10 Even I and my relatives ¹⁶  and my associates ¹⁷  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 15:5

15:5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. ¹⁹ 

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ²⁰ 

The one who lives like this ²¹  will never be upended.

Amsal 28:8

28:8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest ²² 

gathers it for someone who is gracious ²³  to the needy.

Yehezkiel 18:8

18:8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, ²⁴  but refrains ²⁵  from wrongdoing, promotes true justice ²⁶  between men,

Yehezkiel 18:13

18:13 engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. ²⁷  He will bear the responsibility for his own death. ²⁸ 

Yehezkiel 18:17

18:17 refrains from wrongdoing, ²⁹  does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; ³⁰  he will surely live.

Yehezkiel 22:12

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ³¹  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ³²  declares the sovereign Lord. ³³ 

[22:25]  ¹ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ² sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ³ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁴ sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).

[23:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “to your brother” (likewise in the following verse). Since this is not limited to actual siblings, “fellow Israelite” is used in the translation (cf. NAB, NASB “countrymen”).

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

[5:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I gave.”

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

[5:8]  ¹² tn Heb “your brothers.”

[5:9]  ¹³ tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

[5:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.

[5:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”

[5:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “lads.”

[5:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

[15:5]  ¹⁹ sn He does not charge interest. Such an individual is truly generous, and not simply concerned with making a profit.

[15:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a bribe against the innocent he does not take.” For other texts condemning the practice of a judge or witness taking a bribe, see Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19; 27:25; 1 Sam 8:3; Ezek 22:12; Prov 17:23.

[15:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “does these things.”

[28:8]  ²² tn Heb “by interest and increase” (so ASV; NASB “by interest and usury”; NAB “by interest and overcharge.” The two words seem to be synonyms; they probably form a nominal hendiadys, meaning “by increasing [exorbitant] interest.” The law prohibited making a commission or charging interest (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:20; Ps 15:5). If the poor needed help, the rich were to help them – but not charge them interest.

[28:8]  ²³ tn The term חוֹנֵן (khonen, “someone who shows favor”) is the active participle.

[28:8]  sn The verse is saying that in God’s justice wealth amassed unjustly will eventually go to the poor. God will take the wealth away from them and give it to people who will distribute it better to the poor.

[18:8]  ²⁴ sn This law was given in Lev 25:36.

[18:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb, “turns back his hand.”

[18:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “justice of truth.”

[18:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “be put to death.” The translation follows an alternative reading that appears in several ancient textual witnesses.

[18:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his blood will be upon him.”

[18:17]  ²⁹ tc This translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “restrains his hand from the poor,” which makes no sense here.

[18:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “in his father’s punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 18, 19, 20; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[22:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ³² sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ³³ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.