or
increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou
shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals
for increase."

Deuteronomy 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy
brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything
that is lent upon interest: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon
interest, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest,
that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand
unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it."

Nehemiah 5:7-10: "Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the
nobles and rulers and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his
brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said unto
them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews that
were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and
should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace and found
never a word. Also I said, The thing ye do is not good: ought ye not
to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the
nations, our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do
lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury."

The interest exacted by the princes and nobles was no doubt so
extortionate that it could be called usury in the modern legal sense.

Psalm 15:

"Jehovah, Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacles?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness,
And speaketh the truth in his heart;
He that slandereth not with his tongue,
Nor doeth evil to his friend,
Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;
In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah;
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not;
He that putteth not out his money to interest,
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved."

Proverbs 28:8: "He that augmenteth his substance by interest and
increase, gathereth it for him that hath pity on the poor."

Jeremiah 15:10: "I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet
every one of them doth curse me."

King James reads: "I have neither lent upon usury, nor have men lent
to me upon usury." As Jeremiah was protesting his innocence of any
wrongdoing the early translators inserted what was evidently implied
while these latest re