I thought it over for a while. Then I accused the nobles and officials of breaking the law. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large group of people to handle the matter.
They lend their money to poor people without charging interest. They don’t accept money to harm those who aren’t guilty. Anyone who lives like that will always be secure.
I will increase the number of their widows. There will be more of them than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noon I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of the young men among my people. All at once I will bring down on them great suffering and terror.
So let their children die of hunger. Let my enemies be killed in war. Let their wives lose their children and husbands. Let their men be put to death. Let their young men be killed in battle.
“ ‘Suppose any of your own people become poor. And suppose they can’t take care of themselves. Then help them just as you would help an outsider or a stranger. In that way, the poor can continue to live among you.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good amount will be poured into your lap. It will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The same amount you give will be measured out to you.”
You can charge interest to people from another country. But don’t charge your own people. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. He will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.
Don’t put off giving to the Lord your God everything you promise him. He will certainly require it from you. And you will be guilty of committing a sin.