The Hebrew nashak has two distinct applications unified by the idea of harmful extraction. Literally it means to bite β used of a serpent's fatal bite (Numbers 21:6-9). Figuratively, it describes the practice of charging interest on loans, particularly to fellow Israelites β a practice condemned throughout the Law because it 'bites' the borrower into deeper poverty. The imagery is vivid: usury is likened to a venomous serpent.
The connection between nashak (to bite) and lending at interest reveals God's economic ethics. The Torah forbade charging interest to fellow Israelites (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36-37) β lending was to be an act of covenant solidarity, not profit extraction. The prophets condemned usury as oppression of the poor (Ezekiel 18:8, 13; 22:12). The serpent that bites economically is as dangerous as the one in the wilderness β and the bronze serpent lifted by Moses (a type of Christ) healed those bitten, pointing to redemption from every curse.