Lending and borrowing

¹Those who show compassion

will lend to a neighbor,

and those who lend a helping hand

keep the commandments.

²Lend to neighbors in their time of need,

and pay your neighbor back again

on time.

³Keep your word,

and be trustworthy in your dealings,

and you will find what you need

every time.

⁴Many think of a loan as a windfall,

and they have caused trouble

for those who have helped them.

⁵Until 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,

⁶If they can repay, their creditors

will barely recover half the amount,

but if they can’t pay,

they have defrauded their creditors

of their money,

They will repay their creditors

with curses and insults,

and they will repay them with dishonor

rather than glory.

⁷Many have refused to make a loan,

not because they were vicious

but because they were cautious

about being needlessly cheated.

⁸Even so, be patient with those

in humble circumstances,

and don’t make them wait for assistance.

⁹Help the needy for the

and in proportion to their need

don’t turn them away empty-handed.

¹⁰Part with silver for a relative’s

or friend’s sake,

and don’t let it corrode under a stone

and be destroyed.

¹¹Invest your treasure

and it will profit you more than gold.

¹²Store up acts of charity in your treasuries,

and it will deliver you

from every distress.

¹³More than a sturdy shield

and more than a hefty spear,

it will fight for you against an enemy.

¹⁴Good people will guarantee a loan

for neighbors,

and those who have lost any

sense of shame will abandon them.

¹⁵Don’t forget the kindness of those

who have guaranteed a loan,

since they gave their life

on your behalf.

¹⁶Sinners will ruin

their guarantor’s property,

¹⁷and ungrateful persons

intentionally abandon their rescuers.

¹⁸Guaranteeing 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.

¹⁹Sinners will fall into guaranteeing loans,

and when they chase profits,

they will fall into lawsuits.

²⁰Help your neighbor as much as you can,

but keep yourself from ruin.

Home and children

²¹Life’s foundations are water,

bread, clothing,

and a house for ensuring privacy.

²²Better is the life of the poor

under a shelter of rafters

than magnificent food

in foreign countries.

²³Be content with a little or a lot,

and you will never be put down

for being a sojourner.

²⁴Going from house to house

is a miserable life,

and wherever you are an immigrant,

don’t open your mouth.

²⁵You 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.

²⁷Go away, foreigner,

I have a reputable guest;

my brother has come to visit,

and I need the house.”

²⁸These are difficult things

for a person of intelligence:

criticism for being an immigrant

and rebuke from a moneylender.