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"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.
If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.
If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
"But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,'
then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
Exodus Chapter 21: Verses 2 - 6
"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset,
because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Exodus Chapter 22: Verses 25 - 27
" 'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other.
You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.
When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.
Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus Chapter 25: Verses 14 - 17
" 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.
Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you.
You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.
Leviticus Chapter 25: Verses 35 - 37
This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.
Deuteronomy Chapter 15: Verses 2 - 3
Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.
You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
Deuteronomy Chapter 23: Verses 19 - 20
Do not take a pair of millstones,not even the upper one,as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security.
Deuteronomy Chapter 24: Verse 6
When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge.
Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.
If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession.
Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy Chapter 24: Verses 10 - 13
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
Deuteronomy Chapter 24: Verse 17
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
2 Kings Chapter 4: Verse 1
Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers.
Some were saying, "We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain."
Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine."
Still others were saying, "We have had to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.
Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others."
When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.
I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!" So I called together a large meeting to deal with them
and said: "As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!" They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.
So I continued, "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?
I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop!
Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them,the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil."
"We will give it back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say." Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.
I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, "In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!" At this the whole assembly said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
Nehemiah Chapter 5: Verses 1 - 13
You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
Job Chapter 22: Verse 6
They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge.
Job Chapter 24: Verse 3
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
Job Chapter 24: Verses 9 - 10
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
Psalms Chapter 112: Verse 5
Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts;
if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.
Proverbs Chapter 22: Verses 26 - 27
"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. Adultery
Matthew Chapter 5: Verses 25 - 26
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.Love for Enemies
Matthew Chapter 5: Verse 42
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'
The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Matthew Chapter 18: Verses 23 - 35
And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.
Luke Chapter 6: Verse 34
"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Luke Chapter 7: Verses 41 - 43
As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. "
Luke Chapter 12: Verses 58 - 59
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