Bible Strands
Ezekiel 18:8
He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel addresses the exiled house of Israel, defining the concrete conduct of a righteous man within a broader discourse on individual moral accountability.
The words — The Hebrew נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) and תַרְבִית (tarbit) literally denote interest or usury, describing the extraction of excess from a loan.
The thread — The restriction against charging interest to a poor lender appears in Exodus 22:25, and the mandate to render true judgments in public spaces echoes Zechariah 8:16.
Why it lands — The text requires measurable economic restraint and impartial legal conduct rather than ritual observance alone. A reader must verify whether personal dealings and judgments actively withhold from exploitation and deliver fair outcomes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:25 If 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.
- Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- Leviticus 25:35 Now 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.
- Deuteronomy 23:19 Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
- Deuteronomy 1:16 At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.
- Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Psalms 15:5 who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
- Ezekiel 18:13 He engages in usury and takes excess interest. Will this son live? He will not! Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.
- Ezekiel 18:17 He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
- Ezekiel 22:12 In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.