Deuteronomy 15

1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

At the end of [every] seven years shalt thou 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 the loan which he hath lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because the release year in honor of the Lord 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 [payment]; but that which is thine with thy brother shall thy hand 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,

Although indeed there should be no needy man among thee; for the Lord will greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord 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.

Yet only if thou wilt carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord 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 the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he hath spoken unto thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but over thee shall they not rule.

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 among thee a needy man, any one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother.

8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.

But thou shalt open wide thy hand unto him, and thou shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, which his want requireth.

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 wicked thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thy eye be thus evil against thy needy brother, so that thou wouldst give him nought; and if he cry concerning thee unto the Lord, it will be sin in 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; for because of this thing the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all the acquisition of thy hand.

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 needy will not cease out of the land; therefore do I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open wide thy hand unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, 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, the Hebrew, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years; and in the seventh year shalt thou 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 out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away 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 flocks, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy wine-press; wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, that shalt thou 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 hast been a bond-man in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God hath redeemed thee; therefore do I command thee this thing today.

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 away 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 shalt thou take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be unto thee a servant for ever; and also unto thy maid-servant shalt thou 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 sendest him away free from thee, that for double the wages of a hired laborer hath he served thee six years; and the Lord 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 first-born males that come of thy herds and of thy flocks shalt thou sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the first-born of thy bullock, and not shear the first-born of thy sheep.

20 Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.

Before the Lord thy God shalt thou eat it year by year, in the place which the Lord will choose, thou with 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 there be any blemish thereon, if it be lame, or blind, or have any [other] ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord 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.

Within thy gates shalt thou eat it, the unclean and the clean together, as the roebuck, and as the hart.

23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

Only the blood thereof shalt thou not eat: upon the ground shalt thou pour it out as water.