What Does the Bible Say About Debt?

Proverbs 22:7 ESV / 55 helpful votes

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Romans 13:8 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Psalm 37:21 ESV / 38 helpful votes

The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

Romans 13:7 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Luke 14:28 ESV / 23 helpful votes

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Luke 16:11 ESV / 20 helpful votes

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 13 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Proverbs 22:26 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

Exodus 22:25-27 ESV / 13 helpful votes

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Proverbs 21:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

Nehemiah 5:3-5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Proverbs 13:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

Job 22:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.

Nehemiah 5:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards.

Proverbs 31:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

1 Chronicles 17:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” And Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling. ...

Romans 12:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Zechariah 14:1-21 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. ...

Zechariah 11:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

Amos 2:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

They lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

Proverbs 11:15 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

Psalm 150:1-6 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ...

Nehemiah 5:3 ESV / 1 helpful vote

There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.”

26 Bible Verses about Debt