AMERICAN REVISION.
The Revision by the American Committee is the latest effort of
scholarship to bring King James' Version up to date by eliminating
effete terms and using words in their modern sense.
The references to usury are here collated so as to give a general view
of the question from the translations of the passages in this the
latest Revision. The reader will notice that the modern word
"interest" is substituted for "usury" in nearly every passage.
Exodus 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that
is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay
upon him interest."
Leviticus 25:35-37: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand
fail with thee, then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a
sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him 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 revisors have omitted what was not in the original
text.
Ezekiel 18:1-18: "The word of Jehovah came again unto me saying, What
mean ye that ye use this proverb, concerning the land of Israel,
saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
are set on edge? As I live saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have
occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are
mine, as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that
which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a
woman in her impurity, and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to
the debtor his pledge, hath taken naught by robbery, hath given his
bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: he
hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath taken any increase,
that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true justice
between man and man, hath walked in my statutes and hath kept my
ordinances, to deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the
Lord Jehovah.
"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
doeth any one of these things, and that doeth not any of those duties,
but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and denied his neighbor's
wife, hath wronged the poor and needy, hath taken by robbery, hath not
restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath
committed abomination, hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken
increase; shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all
these abominations: he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
"Now, lo, if he beget a son which seeth all his father's sins which he
hath done, and feareth and doeth not such like; that hath not eaten
upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of
the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath taken
by robbery, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered
the naked with a garment; that hath not withdrawn his hand from the
poor, that hath not received interest nor increase, hath executed my
ordinances, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the
iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father,
because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which
is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity."
Ezekiel 22:6-12: "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according
to his power have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set
light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by
oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the
fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things and hast
profaned my sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood;
and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee
they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their
fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in
her impurity. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's
wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another
in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have
they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and
increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression
and hast forgotten me saith the Lord Jehovah."
Matthew 25:26-27: "But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou
wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
not and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to
have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have
received back mine own with interest."
Luke 19:22, 23: "He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I
judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man
taking up that I laid not down and reaping that I did not sow; then
wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my coming
should have required it with usury."
Luke 16:13-15: "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees
who were lovers of money heard all these things and they scoffed at
him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the
sight of men but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted
among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
It is not easy to understand how an honest, godly man, who has even
medium intelligence, unclouded by prejudice, and who has confidence in
the highest scholarship of the age, can deny that the revealed Word of
God, in both Testaments, condemns usury or interest. It is just as
difficult to explain how any one, not glaringly inconsistent, can
claim that interest taking is not a sin, who bows to the divine
authority of the revealed Word and who defines sin as "Any want of
conformity unto or transgression of the law of God."