Exodus 22 · a question people ask
Does the Bible forbid charging interest?
This law is about one kind of loan: "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" (22:25). Leviticus says the same of "your brother" who "has become poor": "Take no interest from him or profit" (Leviticus 25:35-36). Deuteronomy says, "You may charge a foreigner interest; but you shall not charge your brother interest" (Deuteronomy 23:20). Everyone agrees on what this law plainly asks: a poor neighbor in need is to be helped, not made a source of profit (22:25-27). Christians read how far it reaches in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A law about lending to the poor
Those who read it this way note that the command names a loan to someone "who is poor" (22:25) and a brother who "has become poor" (Leviticus 25:35), that Deuteronomy allows interest from a foreigner (Deuteronomy 23:20), and that in Jesus' parable the master says, "You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest" (Matthew 25:27). They hold that the command forbids profiting from a poor neighbor's need, not every loan at interest.
Exodus 22:25 · Leviticus 25:35 · Deuteronomy 23:20 · Matthew 25:27
A wider warning about lending for gain
Those who read it this way note that Psalm 15 asks, "LORD, who shall dwell in your sanctuary?" (Psalm 15:1) and answers with, among others, "he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury" (Psalm 15:5), and that Ezekiel describes the just man as one who "hasn’t lent to them with interest" (Ezekiel 18:8). They hold that these verses warn against lending for gain more widely, not only to the poor.
Psalm 15:1 · Psalm 15:5 · Ezekiel 18:5-9
The verses
““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. If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.”
““‘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.”
“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 charge a foreigner interest; but you shall not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it.”