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.
Parallel translations
- WEB “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.
- KJV If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
- NKJV “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.
- NASB “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.
- NLT “If you lend money to any of my people who are in need, do not charge interest as a money lender would.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Lending to a poor fellow Israelite must not be done as a harsh creditor charging interest. Care for the poor outweighs personal profit.
Overview
This law restrains the wealthy from exploiting the poor through burdensome interest, fostering generosity within the covenant community. It treats lending to the needy as an act of mercy, not gain. Such selfless generosity reflects the grace of God, who in Christ gives freely without demanding repayment we could never make.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Lev 25:35–37Now 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.
- Ps 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
- Deut 23:19–20Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
- Ezek 18:8He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
- Neh 5:7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
- Prov 28:8He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
- Ezek 18:17He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
- Neh 5:10–11I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending the people money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury.
- Jer 15:10Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
- Neh 5:2–5Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”
- 2 Kgs 4:7She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”
- Ezek 18:13He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”
- Luke 19:23Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could have collected it with interest?’
- Ezek 22:12In 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.
- Matt 25:27Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.