<t /><p class="bodytext">You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite,<n id="1" /> whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest.

<p class="poetry">Afterward<n id="1" /> it bites like a snake,p> <p class="poetry">and stings like a viper.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">One who digs a pit may<n id="1" /> fall into it,p> <p class="poetry">and one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">If the snake should bite before it is charmed,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the snake charmer<n id="2" /> is in trouble.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your creditors will suddenly attack;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">those who terrify you will spring into action,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and they will rob you.<n id="3" />p>

You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the <sc>Lordsc> your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.

<p class="poetry">May Dan be a snake beside the road,p> <p class="poetry">a viper by the path,p> <p class="poetry">that bites the heels of the horsep> <p class="poetry">so that its rider falls backward.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So the <sc>Lordsc> sent poisonous<n id="1" /> snakes<n id="2" /> among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks<n id="1" /> at it, he will live.&#8221;

So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Yes indeed,<n id="2" /> I am sending an enemy against youp> <p class="poetry">that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Disaster will be inescapable,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,p> <p class="poetry">then escaped<n id="2" /> into a house,p> <p class="poetry">leaned his hand against the wall,p> <p class="poetry">and was bitten by a poisonous snake.p>

<p class="poetry">Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,p> <p class="poetry">I would hunt them down and take them from there.p> <p class="poetry">Even if they tried to hide from me<n id="1" /> at the bottom of the sea,p> <p class="poetry">from there<n id="2" /> I would command the Sea Serpent<n id="3" /> to bite them.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;The prophets who mislead my peoplep> <p class="poetry">are as good as dead.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">If someone gives them enough to eat,p> <p class="poetry">they offer an oracle of peace.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But if someone does not give them food,p> <p class="poetry">they are ready to declare war on him.<n id="3" />p>