bankruptcy

¹“In the seventh year, you shall perform a remission, ²which shall be celebrated according to this order. Anyone to whom anything is owed, by his friend or neighbor or brother, will not be able to request its return, because it is the year of remission of the Lord.

²¹The sinner will lend and not release, but the just one shows compassion and donates.

⁷The rich rule over the poor. And the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁵You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, “There is no Providence.” For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands.

¹“In the seventh year, you shall perform a remission, ²which shall be celebrated according to this order. Anyone to whom anything is owed, by his friend or neighbor or brother, will not be able to request its return, because it is the year of remission of the Lord. ³From the sojourner and the new arrival, you may require its return. From your fellow countryman and neighbor, you will not have the power to request its return. ⁴And there shall not be anyone indigent or begging among you, so that the Lord your God may bless you in the land which he will deliver to you as a possession. ⁵But only if you heed the voice of the Lord your God, and keep to all that he has ordered, that which I am entrusting to you this day, will he bless you, just as he has promised. ⁶You shall lend money to many nations, and you yourselves shall borrow in return from no one. You shall rule over very many nations, and no one shall rule over you.

²⁵If you lend money to the poor of my people who live among you, you shall not coerce them like a collector, nor oppress them with usury. ²⁶If you take a garment from your neighbor as a pledge, you shall return it to him again before the setting of the sun. ²⁷For it is all that he has to cover himself, to clothe his body; nor does he have anything else in which to sleep. If he cries out to me, I will hear him, because I am compassionate.

³⁵If your brother has become impoverished, or infirm of hand, and you take him in, like a newcomer or a sojourner, and he lives with you, ³⁶do not accept usury from him, nor anything more than what you gave. Fear your God, so that your brother may be able to live with you. ³⁷You shall not give him your money by usury, nor exact from him an overabundance of produce.

¹³who lends upon usury, and who takes an increase, then shall he live? He shall not live. Since he has done all these detestable things, he shall certainly die. His blood shall be upon him.

³⁵If your brother has become impoverished, or infirm of hand, and you take him in, like a newcomer or a sojourner, and he lives with you,

¹⁹You shall not lend money, or grain, or anything else at all, to your brother at interest, ²⁰but only to a foreigner. For you shall lend to your brother whatever he needs without interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your works in the land, which you shall enter so as to possess it.

⁷If one of your brothers, who dwells within the gates of your city, in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, falls into poverty, you shall not harden your heart, nor tighten your hand. ⁸Instead, you shall open your hand to the poor, and you shall lend to him whatever you perceive him to need. ⁹Take care, lest perhaps an impious thought might creep within you, and you might say in your heart: ‘The seventh year of remission approaches.’ And so you might turn your eyes away from your poor brother, unwilling to lend to him what he has asked. If so, then he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it will be a sin for you. ¹⁰Instead, you shall give to him. Neither shall you do anything craftily while assisting him in his needs, so that the Lord your God may bless you, at all times and in all things to which you will put your hand.

⁸You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

³⁴And if you will loan to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is due to you? For even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive the same in return. ³⁵So truly, love your enemies. Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked.

¹¹On this day, restore their fields, and their vineyards, and their olive groves, and their houses to them. Then, too, the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, wine, and oil, which you usually exact from them, give it to them.”

⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend upon your own prudence. ⁶In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.

²⁵If you lend money to the poor of my people who live among you, you shall not coerce them like a collector, nor oppress them with usury.

³⁹If your brother, having been compelled by poverty, will have sold himself to you, you shall not oppress him with the servitude of indentured servants.