Skip to reading
Atomic Bible
Deuteronomy 23:19
Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
from Miscellaneous Laws, Deuteronomy 23:15-25
What it says

An Israelite must not charge a brother interest on money, food, or any kind of loan.

What it is doing

It sets the basic rule for lending within the covenant community.

In context

15Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you. 16Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him. 17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God. 19Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan. 20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess. 21If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin. 23Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth. 24When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not put any in your basket. 25When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.