Matthew 5:42 is the forty-second verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and is part of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

. This is the third verse of the antithesis

Antithesis

Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...

 on non-resistance.

In the King James Version of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 the text reads:

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him

that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn

away him who desires to borrow from you.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 5:42

This verse is most often seen as a command to be charitable. It is quite similar to Luke 6:40, but while that verse commands believers to give, this one simply states that they should not refuse requests. As with other parts of the Sermon on the Mount it is difficult to apply this verse literally, and no major Christian groups advocate such unrestricted charity. Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 argued the verse is restricted only to those who need assistance. Calvin

John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

 states that generosity is important, but one should never be profligate.

A second interpretation of this verse is that it is not about charity, but rather against usury

Usury

Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...

. The word borrow here is seen by some as a reference to the lending industry. Jesus is not stating that one should give money to anyone that asks, but rather that it is wrong to demand interest

Interest

Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....

. The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas

Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...

contains a similar section that is a clear condemnation of usury. Albright and Mann translate the last portion as "do not refuse one who is unable to pay interest."