Deuteronomy 23:20

Deu 23:20 Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Ver. 20. Unto a stranger thou mayest.] And they do it to purpose at this day in foreign parts where they live, straining up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christian. This is their chief trade, and this is yielded by some as a reason why the Jews do so stink, Quod plerique omnes mensarii sint, faeneratoriam exercentes, et ita nullis exercitati laboribus, i.e., Because most of them are usurers, lead sedentary lives, and use no bodily exercise. It was the saying of a merry fellow, that in Christendom there were neither scholars enough, gentlemen enough, nor Jews enough. If the first, so many would not be pluralists; if the second, so many peasants would not be reckoned among the gentry; if the third, not so many usurers. {a}

{a} Heyl, Geog.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If thou show thy charity to thy brother, God will declare his love toward thee.

This was permitted for a time for the hardness of their hearts.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury,.... To any Gentile, though some Jewish writers except the Edomites and Ishmaelites, as being brethren, and restrain it to the seven nations of Canaan; but it seems to design one that was not an Israelite, or a proselyte of righteousness, and especially to regard such that traded and merchandised, as the Gentiles very much did, and especially their neighbours the Phoenicians; and of such it was lawful to take interest, as it was but reasonable, when they gained much by the money they lent them, and as it is but reasonable should be the case among Christians in such circumstances; this is to be regarded not as a precept, but as a permission:

but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury; which is repeated, that it might be taken notice of, and carefully observed:

that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand unto, in the land whither thou goest to possess it; for their charity, humanity, and the kind usage of their poor brethren in distress, would not pass unnoticed by the Lord; but he would make the land they tilled fruitful, and their vineyards and oliveyards to produce abundance, and their flocks and their herds to increase greatly, which would be sufficient and more than a recompence for all that they had freely lent unto their brethren, without taking any usury of them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To the stranger. This was a dispensation granted by God to his people, who, being the Lord of all things, can give a right and title to one upon the goods of another. Otherwise the Scripture every where condemns usury as contrary to the law of God, and a crying sin. See Exodus xxii. 25., Leviticus xxv. 36, 37., 2 Esdras v. 7., Psalm xiv. 5., and Ezechiel xviii. 8, 13, &c. (Challoner) --- The stranger means the devoted nations of Chanaan, &c., whom God authorized his people to destroy. "Exact usury of him whom thou mayst kill without a crime," says St. Ambrose., (de Tob. c. 15,) though this principle will not always excuse usury. This practice was always considered as unjustifiable, except when God gave permission to his people to get by this means the possession of the property of the stranger, the right to which he had already given to them; unless we may consider, that he only tolerates this practice towards the stranger, on account of the hard-heartedness of the Jews. Christ has now expressly declared it unlawful for any one. See Exodus xxii. 25. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Unto a stranger, i.e. to a person of any other nation, for so that word is generally used, and therefore they who restrain it to the cursed Canaanitish nations seem to do so without any solid or sufficient grounds. And though the word

brother is ofttimes used in a general sense for every man, yet I think I may affirm that wheresoever the words brother and stranger are opposed in the Jewish law, the brother signifies the Israelite only, and the stranger signifies any person of what nation or religion soever, whether proselyted to the Jewish religion or not, and so it seems to be meant here. And the reason why usury is permitted to a stranger, not to an Israelite, may seem to be this, because the Israelites generally employed themselves in the management of land and cattle, and therefore could not make any advantage of borrowed money to balance the use they should pay for it; and consequently it may be presumed that they would not borrow money upon use, but for want and poverty, and in that case, and principally for that reason, usury seems to be forbidden to them, as may be thought from Lev 25:35,36. But the strangers made use of their money in way of trade and traffic with the Israelites, which was more gainful, and could much better bear the burden of usury, and reap advantage from money so borrowed; and these strangers here spoken of are supposed to be competently rich, and not poor, as may plainly appear by comparing this place with Lev 25:35,36, where they are no less forbidden to take usury of a stranger than of a brother, in case of poverty.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

לא תשיך implies a prohibition addressed to the borrower that he should not pay interest to the creditor (cf. Sifrei Devarim 262:1; Bava Metzia 75b) [and afterwards (Leviticus 25:37) follows the prohibition addressed to the creditor, “thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest”].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

LO THASHICH form tashich is understood in a causative sense as meaning: “Thou shalt not cause thy brother to take interest.” See “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 224-225. L’ACHICHA’ (THOU SHALT NOT CAUSE THY BROTHER TO TAKE INTEREST). This also is an explanatory commandment, adding here an admonition to the borrower as well, unlike all civil cases, for if a person wishes to damage his belongings he may do so [and it should, therefore, be permitted to the borrower to give freely to the lender]. However, because of the habitual nature of this sin [of giving interest], Scripture admonishes the borrower as well. And he explained here that a heathen’s interest is permissible. This he did not mention with reference to robbery and theft, as the Rabbis have said. “Theft from a heathen is forbidden.” But borrowing for interest, which is agreed upon by both parties and is done voluntarily, was forbidden [by the Torah] only because of brotherliness and kindness, as He commanded, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and as he said, Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart etc. [and thine eye be evil against thy needy brother, and thou give him nought]. Therefore he said [here], that the Eternal thy G-d may bless thee, for it is an act of mercy and compassion that one does for his brother by lending him without interest, and it will be accounted to him for righteousness. The release of debts [in the Seventh year] is also an act of mercy among brothers, and therefore he said, Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it, and for him [who releases the debt of a brother] he designated a blessing, Verse 4. for Scripture mentions a blessing only in connection with charity and acts of mercy, and not for [the mere abstention from] robbery, theft, and fraud.He mentions interest of money, interest of victuals in order to explain that he who lends one measure of wheat for a measure and a half is [guilty of taking] true interest even if at the time of payment a measure and a half is not worth as much as was the one measure that he lent him. And he further explained, interest of any thing that is lent upon interest, meaning even building-blocks and other articles which are lent. For it might occur to one to think that “interest” applies only to money with which everything can be purchased and to victuals which sustain life, but in other things we should go according to the cash value at the time of the loan and the repayment [therefore Scripture prohibited all such interest expressly]. Now our Rabbis have interpreted 263. See also Ramban above 15:3 where this subject is explained more fully. the verse, Unto a foreigner thou shalt lend upon interest as being a negative commandment derived from a positive commandment [which carries the force of a positive commandment] with respect to lending to an Israelite. [They rendered this interpretation] because the verse is redundant, for he already stated ‘lo thashich’ thy brother [which implies clearly that it is permitted to exact interest from a foreigner; why then the repetition, Unto a foreigner etc.? It was to teach that an interest-bearing loan to an Israelite is in violation of both a negative and a positive commandment].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.