FRANKFURT — Faced with a eurozone economy stubbornly resistant to revival, the European Central Bank on Thursday went where no central bank — at least no major one — had gone before.

It said it would effectively pay commercial banks money to borrow central bank funds.

The offer, one of a half-dozen measures the central bank announced on Thursday, means banks that participate would pay back less at the end of the four-year loan than they borrowed. It’s the same as if your bank offered you a no-interest loan, plus a free toaster as a bonus.

Banks will qualify for the money only if they lend it on to consumers and businesses. And there are other conditions. The money cannot be used for mortgages, for example.

The step represented a significant escalation of the E.C.B.’s efforts to get banks to lend more money, apply a jolt to the eurozone economy and head off the threat of a destructive decline in prices known as deflation.