t is drunken, for it is not just to make
advantage of the misfortunes of one of thy own countrymen; but when
thou hast been assistant to his necessities, think it thy gain if thou
obtainest their gratitude to thee; and withal that reward which will
come to thee from God, for thy humanity towards him.

26. Those who have borrowed either silver or any sort of fruits, whether
dry or wet, [I mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall, by the blessing
of God, be to their own mind,] let the borrowers bring them again, and
restore them with pleasure to those who lent them, laying them up, as
it were, in their own treasuries, and justly expecting to receive them
thence, if they shall want them again. But if they be without shame, and
do not restore it, let not the lender go to the borrower's house, and
take a pledge himself, before judgment be given concerning it; but let
him require the pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, without
the least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of
the law. And if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the creditor retain
it till what he lent be paid him again; but if he be poor, let him that
takes it return it before the going down of the sun, especially if the
pledge be a garment, that the debtor may have it for a covering in his
sleep, God himself naturally showing mercy to the poor. It is also not
lawful to take a millstone, nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a
pledge, that the debtor, may not be deprived of instruments to get their
food withal, and lest they be undone by their necessity.

27. Let death be the punishment for stealing a man; but he that hath
purloined gold or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill a man that
is stealing something out of his house, let him be esteemed guiltless,
although the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let him that hath
stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost, excepting the case of an ox,
for which let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so poor that he
cannot pay what mulet is laid upon him, be his servant to whom he was
adjudged to pay it.

28. If any one be sold to one of his own nation, let him serve him six
years, and on the seventh let him go free. But if he have a son by
a woman servant in his purchaser's house, and if, on account of his
good-will to his master, and his natural affection to his wife and
children, he will be his servant still, let him be set free only at the
coming of the year of jub