Lending and Borrowing

¹ The one who shows mercy will lend to his neighbour, and the one who girds him up with his hand keeps the commandments.

² Lend to your neighbour in the time of his need; and in turn, repay your neighbour promptly.

³ Confirm your word and keep faith with him, and on every occasion you will find what you need. 

⁴ Many regard a loan as a windfall and cause trouble to those who help them.

⁵ One will kiss another’s hands until he gets a loan and will talk humbly when speaking of his neighbour’s money; but at the time for repayment he will delay and will pay in words of unconcern and will find fault with the time.

⁶ If he is able to pay, the lender will hardly get back half and will regard that as a windfall. If he cannot, he has robbed him of his money, and he has needlessly made him his enemy; he will repay him with curses and reproaches and instead of glory will repay him with dishonour.

⁷ Many have refused to lend not because of wickedness; they have been afraid of being defrauded needlessly.

⁸ Nevertheless, be patient with a man in humble circumstances and do not make him wait for your alms.

⁹ Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake and because of his need do not send him away empty.

¹⁰ Lose your silver for the sake of a brother or a friend and do not let it rust under a stone and be lost.

¹¹ Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold.

¹² Store up almsgiving in your treasury, and it will rescue you from all affliction;

¹³ more than a mighty shield and more than a heavy spear, it will fight on your behalf against an enemy.

Guaranteeing Debts

¹⁴ A good man will be surety for his neighbour, but the one who has lost a sense of shame will fail him.

¹⁵ Do not forget all the kindness of your guarantor, for he has given his life for you.

¹⁶ A sinner will overthrow the prosperity of his guarantor,

¹⁷ and an ingrate will abandon his rescuer.

¹⁸ Being surety has ruined many who were prosperous and has shaken them like a wave of the sea; it has driven men of power into exile, and they have wandered among foreign nations.

¹⁹ The sinner falls into suretyship and in pursuing gain will fall into lawsuits.

²⁰ Assist your neighbour according to your ability, but take heed to yourself lest you fall.

Home and Hospitality

²¹ The essentials for life are water and bread and clothing and a house to cover one’s nakedness.

²² Better is the life of a poor man under the shelter of his roof than sumptuous food in the house of others.

²³ Be content with little or much, and you will never hear reproach for being a stranger.

²⁴ It is a miserable life to go from house to house, and where you are a stranger you may not open your mouth;

²⁵ you will serve as host and pour drink without being thanked, and besides this you will hear bitter words:

²⁶ “Come here, stranger, prepare the table, and if you have anything at hand, let me have it to eat.” ²⁷ “Give place, stranger, to an honoured person; my brother has come to stay with me; I need my house.”

²⁸ These things are hard to bear for anyone who has feeling: scolding for being a stranger and the reproach of the moneylender.