Lending and borrowing
1 Those who show compassion will lend to a neighbor, and those who lend a helping hand keep the commandments.
2
Lend to neighbors in their time of need, and pay your neighbor back again on time.
3
Keep your word, and be trustworthy in your dealings, and you will find what you need every time.
4
Many think of a loan as a windfall, and they have caused trouble for those who have helped them.
5
Until they receive the loan, they will kiss the hands of those who can help, and they will speak with deference about their neighbor's money, but when it's time for repayment, they will put it off, offer weak excuses, and say it is a bad time.
6
If they can repay, their creditors will barely recover half the amount, and the creditors will consider that much a windfall; but if they can't pay, they have defrauded their creditors of their money, and they have made enemies out of them needlessly. They will repay their creditors with curses and insults, and they will repay them with dishonor rather than glory.
7
Many have refused to make a loan, not because they were vicious but because they were cautious about being needlessly cheated.
8
Even so, be patient with those in humble circumstances, and don't make them wait for assistance.
9
Help the needy for the commandment's sake, and in proportion to their need don't turn them away empty-handed.
10
Part with silver for a relative's or friend's sake, and don't let it corrode under a stone and be destroyed.
11
Invest your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold.
12
Store up acts of charity in your treasuries, and it will deliver you from every distress.
13
More than a sturdy shield and more than a hefty spear, it will fight for you against an enemy.
14
Good people will guarantee a loan for neighbors, and those who have lost any sense of shame will abandon them.
15
Don't forget the kindness of those who have guaranteed a loan, since they gave their life on your behalf.
16
Sinners will ruin their guarantor's property,
17
and ungrateful persons intentionally abandon their rescuers.
18
Guaranteeing a loan has ruined many prosperous people and tossed them about like a wave on the sea. It has led to the exile of the powerful, and they have wandered among foreign nations.
19
Sinners will fall into guaranteeing loans, and when they chase profits, they will fall into lawsuits.
20
Help your neighbor as much as you can, but keep yourself from ruin.
Home and children
21 Life's foundations are water, bread, clothing, and a house for ensuring privacy.
22
Better is the life of the poor under a shelter of rafters than magnificent food in foreign countries.
23
Be content with a little or a lot, and you will never be put down for being a sojourner.
24
Going from house to house is a miserable life, and wherever you are an immigrant, don't open your mouth.
25
You will entertain and provide drink without thanks, and you will hear bitter words such as these:
26
"Come here, foreigner, prepare a table; and if there's something in your hand, feed it to me.
27
Go away, foreigner, I have a reputable guest; my brother has come to visit, and I need the house."
28
These are difficult things for a person of intelligence: criticism for being an immigrant and rebuke from a moneylender.