Exodus 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 

Leviticus 25:35-37

Debt and Slave Regulations

25:35 “‘If your brother ⁵  becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, ⁶  you must support ⁷  him; he must live ⁸  with you like a foreign resident. ⁹  25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him, ¹⁰  but you must fear your God and your brother must live ¹¹  with you. 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 23:19-20

Respect for Others’ Property

23:19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, ¹³  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.

Nehemiah 5:2-5

5:2 There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain ¹⁴  grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 5:3 There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” 5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ¹⁵  on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹⁶  and our children are just like their children, ¹⁷  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ¹⁸  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ¹⁹  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ²⁰ 

Nehemiah 5:7-13

5:7 I considered these things carefully ²¹  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ²²  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ²³  from your own countrymen!” ²⁴  Because of them I called for ²⁵  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ²⁶  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ²⁷  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

5:9 Then I ²⁸  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ²⁹  Should you not conduct yourselves ³⁰  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 ³¹  and my associates ³²  are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! ³³  5:11 This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest ³⁴  that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil.”

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ³⁵  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 ³⁶  swear to do what had been promised. ³⁷  5:13 I also shook out my garment, ³⁸  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ³⁹  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. ⁴⁰ 

Ezekiel 18:8

18:8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, ⁴¹  but refrains ⁴²  from wrongdoing, promotes true justice ⁴³  between men,

Ezekiel 18:17

18:17 refrains from wrongdoing, ⁴⁴  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; ⁴⁵  he will surely live.

Ezekiel 22:12

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ⁴⁶  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ⁴⁷  declares the sovereign Lord. ⁴⁸ 

[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).

[25:35]  ⁵ tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”).

[25:35]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”

[25:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”

[25:35]  ⁸ tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5).

[25:35]  ⁹ tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).

[25:36]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the terms rendered “interest” and “profit” is much debated (see the summaries in P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 354-55 and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 178). Verse 37, however, suggests that the first refers to a percentage of money and the second percentage of produce (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 421).

[25:36]  ¹¹ tn In form the Hebrew term וְחֵי (vÿkhey, “shall live”) is the construct plural noun (i.e., “the life of”), but here it is used as the finite verb (cf. v. 35 and GKC 218 §76.i).

[25:37]  ¹² tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above.

[23:19]  ¹³ 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”).

[5:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).

[5:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ²⁰ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[5:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ²² tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I gave.”

[5:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

[5:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your brothers.”

[5:9]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”

[5:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:10]  ³² tn Heb “lads.”

[5:10]  ³³ tn Heb “this debt.” This expression is a metonymy of association: “debt” refers to the seizure of the collateral of the debt.

[5:11]  ³⁴ tc The MT reads וּמְאַת (umÿ’at, “and the hundredth”) which is somewhat enigmatic. The BHS editors suggest emending to וּמַשַּׁאת (umasha’t, “and the debt”) which refers to the interest or collateral (pledge) seized by a creditor (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; see HALOT 641-42 s.v. מַשָּׁא). The term מַשַּׁאת (masha’t) is related to the noun מָשָּׁא (masha’, “debt”) in 5:7, 10.

[5:12]  ³⁵ tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[5:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “my bosom.”

[5:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

[5:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[18:8]  ⁴¹ sn This law was given in Lev 25:36.

[18:8]  ⁴² tn Heb, “turns back his hand.”

[18:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “justice of truth.”

[18:17]  ⁴⁴ tc This translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “restrains his hand from the poor,” which makes no sense here.

[18:17]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.