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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 a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to his neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking,
the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the LORD that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person's property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required.
But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.
If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, he shall bring in the remains as evidence and he will not be required to pay for the torn animal.
"If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must make restitution.
But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss. Social Responsibility
Exodus Chapter 22: Verses 10 - 15
"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 sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.
If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it,
he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.
But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.
" 'If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it.
If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.
But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
" 'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess.
So the property of the Levites is redeemable,that is, a house sold in any town they hold,and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites.
But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.
" '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.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
" 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.
He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.
Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.
Leviticus Chapter 25: Verses 25 - 41
" 'If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan,
he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:
An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.
He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years.
If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him.
If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly.
He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly.
" 'Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee,
for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus Chapter 25: Verses 47 - 55
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
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."
Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few.
Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left." The Shunammite's Son Restored to Life
2 Kings Chapter 4: Verses 1 - 7
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."
Nehemiah Chapter 5: Verses 3 - 5
"When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
Nehemiah Chapter 10: Verse 31
What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
Job Chapter 20: Verse 18
You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
Job Chapter 22: Verse 6
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Job Chapter 24: Verse 9
He who puts up security for another will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe.
Proverbs Chapter 11: Verse 15
Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts;
Proverbs Chapter 22: Verse 26
They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.
Amos Chapter 2: Verse 8
"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
"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?'
Matthew Chapter 18: Verses 23 - 33
He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.
At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed.
He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.'
"But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!"
Luke Chapter 20: Verses 9 - 16
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Romans Chapter 13: Verse 8
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