paying back what you owe

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

⁷Therefore, render to all whatever is owed. Taxes, to whom taxes is due; revenue, to whom revenue is due; fear, to whom fear is due; honor, to whom honor is due. ⁸You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹For example: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not speak false testimony. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁰The love of neighbor does no harm. Therefore, love is the plenitude of 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. ³⁶Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is also merciful.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what the future day may bring.

¹⁷Whoever is merciful to the poor lends to the Lord. And he will repay him for his efforts.

¹My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider, ²then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words. ³Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend. ⁴Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber. ⁵Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

¹⁹And may my God fulfill all your desires, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

¹³No servant is able to serve two lords. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

⁸But, having nourishment and some kind of covering, we should be content with these.

¹And he also said to his disciples: “A certain man was wealthy, and he had a steward of his estate. And this man was accused to him of having dissipated his goods. ²And he called him and said to him: ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship. For you can no longer be my steward.’ ³And the steward said within himself: ‘What shall I do? For my lord is taking the stewardship away from me. I am not strong enough to dig. I am too ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I will do so that, when I have been removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’ ⁵And so, calling together each one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my lord?’ ⁶So he said, ‘One hundred jars of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your invoice, and quickly, sit down and write fifty.’

⁸If a man will afflict God, then you greatly afflict me. And you have said, “In what way, do we afflict you?” In tithes and in first-fruits. ⁹And you have been cursed with privation, and you greatly afflict me, even your entire people. ¹⁰Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and let there be food in my house. And test me about this, says the Lord, as to whether I will not open to you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out to you a blessing, all the way to abundance. ¹¹And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he will not corrupt the fruit of your land. Neither will the vine in the field be barren, says the Lord of hosts. ¹²And all nations will call you blessed. For you will be a desirable land, says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁸Destitution and disgrace are for those who abandon discipline. But whoever agrees with a reproof shall be glorified.

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.

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

¹²They have accepted bribes among you to shed blood. You have received usury and superabundance, and in avarice you have oppressed your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.

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.

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.

⁴³The new arrival who lives with you in the land will ascend over you, and be higher. But you will descend, and be lower. ⁴⁴He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him. He will be as the head, and you will be as the tail. ⁴⁵And all these curses shall come to you, and shall pursue you, and shall take hold of you, until you pass away, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and you would not serve his commandments and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.

²⁷Do not prevent him who is able from doing good. When you are able, do good yourself too. ²⁸Do not say to your friend: “Go away, and then return. Tomorrow I will give to you.” When you are able to do so, give in the present.

³²And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

¹⁴and wiping away the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken this away from your midst, affixing it to the Cross.