Integrity is embraced in the commandment Jesus singled out as the greatest of all​—loving Jehovah God with one’s whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Mt 22:36-38) His injunction that “you must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48) also stressed a completeness of one’s devotion to righteousness. (The Greek terms for perfection convey the idea of that which has been ‘brought to completion’ and so are somewhat similar in meaning to the Hebrew terms already discussed.)

Jesus’ teachings emphasized purity of heart, singleness of outlook and intent, freedom from hypocrisy​—all these being qualities that characterize integrity. (Mt 5:8; 6:1-6, 16-18, 22, 23; Lu 11:34-36) The apostle Paul showed the same concern as had David and earlier servants of God for proving blameless and faultless. He was free from any charge of corruption or deviousness in his ministry and in all his dealings with others.​—2Co 4:1, 2; 6:3-10; 8:20, 21; 1Th 1:3-6.

Perseverance in a God-given commission in the face of opposition, and endurance of privations, persecution, and suffering for adhering to a course of godly devotion, also marked Paul and other early Christians as persons of integrity.​—Ac 5:27-41; 2Co 11:23-27.

The price or rate paid by a debtor for the use of what he borrows.

Already in the second millennium B.C.E., Babylon had a fully developed loan system. The Code of Hammurabi indicates a 20-percent interest rate on money and grain, and it stipulates that a merchant charging a higher rate would forfeit the amount lent. By contrast God’s law to Israel prohibited making loans on interest to needy fellow Israelites. No one was to profit from another’s financial reverses. (Ex 22:25; Le 25:36, 37; De 23:19) And Proverbs 28:8 indicates that fortunes acquired from interest wrongfully collected would eventually become the possession of “the one showing favor to the lowly ones.”

Foreigners, however, could be charged interest by the Israelites. (De 23:20) Jewish commentators understand this to apply, not to cases of need, but to business loans. (The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, edited by J. H. Hertz, London, 1972, p. 849) Usually foreigners were in Israel only temporarily, often as merchants, and could reasonably be expected to pay interest, particularly since they would also be lending to others on interest.

Whereas upright Israelites obeyed God’s law about making interest-free loans (Ps 15:5; Eze 18:5, 8, 17), lending on interest apparently became common and brought hardships on needy debtors. (Ne 5:1-11; Isa 24:2; Eze 18:13; 22:12) Jesus Christ, though, upheld God’s law in this regard and gave it an even broader application, saying: “Continue . . . to lend without interest, not hoping for anything back.” (Lu 6:34, 35) It would therefore be improper to withhold assistance from a person who because of continued adversity and through no fault of his own might be unable to repay a debt. But when the loan is not needed to relieve poverty, there would be no objection to a person’s charging interest on a loan. Jesus himself, by having the wicked slave in one of his illustrations censured for failing to deposit his master’s money with the bankers so as to draw interest, implied that receiving interest from invested capital is proper.​—Mt 25:26, 27; Lu 19:22, 23.

In the Bible an interpreter may be either of two kinds. He may be a translator, one who conveys the meaning of words spoken or written in one language to persons reading or speaking another, and he can do this either orally or in writing. On the other hand, an interpreter may be one who explains Bible prophecy by giving others the meaning, significance, and understanding of prophetic dreams, visions, and messages of divine origin.

Translation. The confusion of man’s language during the building of the Tower of Babel resulted in the human family’s suddenly becoming a multilingual race. This, in turn, gave rise to a new profession, that of interpreter or translator. (Ge 11:1-9) Some five centuries later, in order to conceal his identity as their brother, Joseph employed a translator to interpret for him when speaking to his Hebrew brothers in the Egyptian language. (Ge 42:23) A form of the Hebrew word lits (deride; scorn) is rendered “interpreter” in this text. The same word is sometimes rendered ‘spokesman’ when referring to an envoy versed in a foreign language, as were “the spokesmen of the princes of Babylon” sent to converse with King Hezekiah of Judah.​—2Ch 32:31.

The gift of speaking in foreign tongues was one of the manifestations of God’s outpoured holy spirit upon the faithful disciples of Christ on Pentecost 33 C.E. However, this was no duplication of what occurred on the Plains of Shinar 22 centuries earlier. For, instead of replacing their original language with a new one, these disciples retained their mother tongue and at the same time were enabled to speak in the tongues of foreign-language groups about the magnificent things of God. (Ac 2:1-11) Along with this ability to speak