Deuteronomy 15
1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
2 This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.
And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because Jehovah’s release hath been proclaimed.
3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thy hand shall release.
4 There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,
Howbeit there shall be no poor with thee (for Jehovah will surely bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it),
5 if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.
if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.
6 When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.
For Jehovah thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.
7 If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.
If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother;
8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.
but thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need [in that] which he wanteth.
9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
10 Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto.
11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.
For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt surely open thy hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land.
12 If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.
If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13 And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:
14 You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.
thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.
15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day.
16 But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,
And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee;
17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.
then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.
18 Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling hath he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.
19 You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.
All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto Jehovah thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy herd, nor shear the firstling of thy flock.
20 Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.
Thou shalt eat it before Jehovah thy God year by year in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou and thy household.
21 But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
And if it have any blemish, [as if it be] lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto Jehovah thy God.
22 Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.
Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean [shall eat it] alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart.
23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water.
