What the Bible says about debt and lending

The 15 verses readers most often turn to for this topic, quoted in full from the Berean Standard Bible.

Prov 22:7The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

Rom 13:8Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Deut 23:19–20Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan. You 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.

Ps 37:21The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are gracious and giving.

Exod 22:25If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

Prov 22:26–27Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

Luke 14:28Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

Matt 5:42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Rom 13:7Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Prov 19:17Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

Ps 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

Heb 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

Deut 15:7If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.

Lev 25:35–37Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you. Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you. You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

Deut 28:12The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

These are the verses readers most often turn to for this topic — not a teaching on it. Read each in its chapter.

Sources

The verses of each topic and their order: OpenBible.info topical data, by readers’ votes: OpenBible.info · CC BY 4.0

Berean Standard Bible · Public domain