Exodus 22:26

for it may be his taleth which alone covereth him; (or) it is his only garment in which he rests, which falleth upon his skin; and if thou take the coverlet of the bed whereon he lies, and he be heard before Me, I will hearken to his prayer; for I am Eloah the Merciful.

AND I WILL HEAR FOR I AM GRACIOUS — showing favor and accepting everyone’s supplication even though he is unworthy, the word chanun (gracious) being derived from the word chinam (for nothing). And the meaning of the verse is that you should not think: “I will not take the righteous man’s garment as a pledge, but the garment of a man who is not righteous I will take as a pledge and not return to him, for G-d will not hear his cry.” Therefore He said, for I am gracious and I hear the cry of all who beseech Me.

ושמעתי כי חנון אני, even though the creditor has obtained the pledge legally, and he does not have to return it except in exchange for payment of the loan it secures, the Torah expects you to do more than the law requires, something known in Talmudic parlance as לפנים משורת הדין. G’d warns that although from a legal standpoint He should ignore the pleas of the debtor, He will nonetheless listen to his plea as He is compassionate by nature. When discussing G’d’s attitude to the pleas of a widow or orphan in verse 22 the Torah describes this as not only based on His compassion but on legal considerations. Hence the words: “for I am compassionate” do not appear in that context.

ושמעתי כי חנון אני, even though the debtor cannot complain to Me about you, seeing he owes you repayment for a loan, if he nonetheless cries out to Me complaining about his economic situation which causes him to be practically naked seeing you took his clothing as security for his overdue loan, I will give him part of what I had intended to give you as recognition of your supplying his needs. If you had been granted more financial means than you needed, the only reason was so that you could use your excess to assist the needy.

כי חנון אני, I will therefore display My compassion for anyone who has no one else to turn to. It is in your own interest then to demonstrate your compassion by returning his pledge to him when he is in need of it. If you will do this you will ensure that I will not withdraw My compassion from you. This, in turn, will enable you to extend loans to other needy people.

והיה כי יצעק אלי, “and it will come to pass that if the borrower cries out to Me,” (complaining about unfair treatment) the borrower’s complaint to Me will sound as follows: “we have both been created by You as equals. Why should the lender sleep comfortably each night with a pillow to rest his head on, while I have to rest my head on a stone?” At first glance the wording of the Torah describing G–d’s response, i.e. “I will listen for I am gracious,” to the borrower’s complaint does not appear to fit his complaint; This is why I, (author) have decided to interpret the verse differently. It appears to relate to what was written previously in verse 25, where the Torah commanded the lender to restore the pledge (pillow) by nightfall, so that he can also rest his head on a pillow. G–d’s response is to be understood as follows: “if the borrower in his prayers mentions that you have treated him with consideration, I too will consider your own problems having due regard for the empathy you have shown the borrower.” This is spelled out clearly in Deuteronomy 15,10, where the subject of how to relate to destitute people is discussed at greater length.