Proverbs 22:2

22:2 The rich and the poor meet together; ¹ 

the Lord is the creator of them both. ² 

Exodus 22:25-26

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ³  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ⁴  to him; do not charge ⁵  him interest. ⁶  22:26 If you do take ⁷  the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down, ⁸ 

Leviticus 25:35-37

Debt and Slave Regulations

25:35 “‘If your brother ⁹  becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, ¹⁰  you must support ¹¹  him; he must live ¹²  with you like a foreign resident. ¹³  25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him, ¹⁴  but you must fear your God and your brother must live ¹⁵  with you. 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit. ¹⁶ 

Nehemiah 5:5-7

5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹⁷  and our children are just like their children, ¹⁸  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ¹⁹  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ²⁰  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ²¹ 

5:6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. ²²  5:7 I considered these things carefully ²³  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ²⁴  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ²⁵  from your own countrymen!” ²⁶  Because of them I called for ²⁷  a great public assembly.

[22:2]  ¹ tn The form of the verb is the Niphal perfect of פָּגַשׁ (pagash); it means “to meet together [or, each other]” (cf. KJV, ASV). The point is that rich and poor live side by side in this life, but they are both part of God’s creation (cf. NAB, NASB “have a common bond”). Some commentators have taken this to mean that they should live together because they are part of God’s creation; but the verb form will not sustain that meaning.

[22:2]  ² tn Heb “all.” The Lord is sovereign over both groups, that is, he has had the final say whether a person is rich or poor. People would do well to treat all people with respect, for God can as easily reduce the rich to poverty as raise up the poor to wealth.

[22:25]  ³ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁶ 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).

[22:26]  ⁷ tn The construction again uses the infinitive absolute with the verb in the conditional clause to stress the condition.

[22:26]  ⁸ tn The clause uses the preposition, the infinitive construct, and the noun that is the subjective genitive – “at the going in of the sun.”

[25:35]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”

[25:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”

[25:35]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).

[25:36]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above.

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ²¹ 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).

[5:6]  ²² tn Heb “words.”

[5:7]  ²³ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I gave.”