Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
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Leviticus 25:36-37 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“ ‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Parallel Translations
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Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.
You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
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Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
Show all 3 translations
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Take thou no interest of him or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (11)
- Exodus 22:25 (v36) “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.
- Deuteronomy 23:19-20 (v36) You shall not lend on interest to your brother: interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest. You may…
- Ezekiel 18:8 (v36) he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true…
- Leviticus 25:17 (v36) You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Ezekiel 18:13 (v36) has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He…
Show all 11 cross-references
- Ezekiel 18:17 (v36) who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes;…
- Nehemiah 5:7-10 (v36) Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I…
- Nehemiah 5:15 (v36) But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver;…
- Psalms 15:5 (v36) he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
- Proverbs 28:8 (v36) He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.
- Ezekiel 22:12 (v36) In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v36 Lev 25:36 Take thou no usury of him, or…
Lev 25:36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
Ver. 36. Take thou no usury.] God dispenseth with no usury, but condemns both Neshec the biting, and Tarbith the toothless. In Rome at this day, all usurers are excommunicated monthly. The Jews indeed are permitted to strain up their usury to 18 per cent upon the Christian, for among themselves they nowhere use it, which causeth many of the unconscionable Christians to use these Jews underhandly in improving their unlawful rents to the utmost proportion.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v36 i.e. Of thy brother, whether he be Israelite or…
i.e. Of thy brother, whether he be Israelite or proselyte.
Increase: this some conceive relates to the fruits of the earth, food, &c., as usury doth to money. But here may rather seem’ to be two words expressing the same thing,
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(1.) To meet with the subtle evasions of crafty and covetous men, who made gain of their poor brethren (for of such only he speaks here, as is evident from Lev 25:35) by the lending of money or other things; and that they may quiet their consciences, and palliate their sin, they disguise it under other names; and,
(2.) To show that all kinds of usury are in this case forbidden, whether of money, or of victuals, or of any thing that is commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus, as it is said Deu 23:19.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv36–37 Take thou no usury of him, or increase,.... Not…
Take thou no usury of him, or increase,.... Not only give him somewhat for his present relief, but lend him money to put him in a way of business, to get his living for the future, without requiring any interest for it; See Gill on Exo 22:25,
but fear thy God; who has given this command, and expects to be obeyed; and who is good, and does good, and should be feared for his goodness' sake; and is omniscient, and knows what is secretly exacted, and will not suffer any exorbitance of this kind to pass unpunished:
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that thy brother may live with thee; which it would be still more difficult for him to do, should usury and increase be taken of him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v36 Of him - That is, of thy brother, whether…
Of him - That is, of thy brother, whether he be Israelite, or proselyte. Or increase - All kinds of usury are in this case forbidden, whether of money, or of victuals, or of any thing that is commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus. If one borrow in his necessity, there can be no doubt but this law is binding still. But it cannot be thought to bind, where money is borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other improvements. For there it is reasonable, that the lender share with the borrower in the profit.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v36 Verse 36. Take thou no usury of him] Usury,…
Verse 36. Take thou no usury of him] Usury, at present, signifies unlawful interest for money. Properly, it means the reward or compensation given for the use of a thing, but is principally spoken of money. For the definition of the original term, See Clarke on Ex 22:25.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v36 Lev 25:36. Take no usury of him — That…
Lev 25:36. Take no usury of him — That is, of thy brother, whether he be Israelite or proselyte. Or increase — All kinds of usury are in this case forbidden, whether of money, or of victuals, or of any thing that is commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus. If one borrow in his necessity, there can be no doubt this law is binding still. But it cannot be thought to bind where money is borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other improvements. For there it is reasonable that the lender should share with the borrower in the profit.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v37 Lend him thy victuals for increase - i. e.…
Lend him thy victuals for increase - i. e. supply him with food for thy own profit.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv36–37 36. Take no usury — This word in the…
36. Take no usury — This word in the original signifies interest on money loaned, but in modern English it has come to designate excessive interest, either formally illegal or at least oppressive. When our Authorized Version was made, the term usury was the exact equivalent of the Hebrew neshek, interest.
Thy brother — The prohibition of interest extended only to a brother Hebrew. At first only the poor Hebrew was exempted from interest, (Exo_22:25,) but Jahn thinks that it was found difficult to define the term poor person; hence the prohibition was extended to all Hebrews, so that henceforth interest could be taken only of foreigners.
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Deu_23:20. We cannot agree with Davidson, that this would limit their commerce with other nations, and thus conserve their religious faith. This prohibition was flagrantly transgressed by Hebrew capitalists after the return from the captivity, when one per cent. per month was exacted from their brethren. See Neh_5:11, in which “the hundredth” is one per cent. a month, a ruinous rate.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–37 36. usury … increase] The former was interest on…
36. usury … increase] The former was interest on money, the latter on food stuffs and paid in kind. For the important part played by such transactions in Babylonia see Johns, Bab. and Assyr. Laws, ch. 23, p. 253.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–37 (36) Take thou no usury of him, or increase.—The…
(36) Take thou no usury of him, or increase.—The first thing to be done to the impoverished Israelite is to supply him with the means to recover himself without any interest. The authorities during the second Temple defined the words which are translated “usury” (nesheck) and “increase” (tarbith, or marbith) as follows: If a person lends to another a shekel worth four denarii, and gets in return five denarii, or if he lends him two sacks of wheat, and receives back three, this is usury. If one buys wheat for delivery at the market price of 25 denarii a measure, and when it rises to 30 denarii he says to the vendor, “Deliver me the wheat, for I want to sell it and buy wine,” and the vendor replies,” I will take the wheat at 30 denarii and give thee wine for it,” though he has no wine, this is increase. The “increase” lies in the fact that the vendor has no wine at the time, and that he may possibly lose again by the rise in wine. Accordingly the former is a charge upon money, whilst the latter is on products.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v36 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9")
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v36 25:36-37 The purpose of a loan was to help…
25:36-37 The purpose of a loan was to help a poor person get back on their feet, not to make money from their vulnerability. Interest was forbidden on loans to Israelites but permitted on loans to foreigners (Deut 23:19-20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.