Deuteronomy 15

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

“At the end of seven years you 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 matter of the release: every owner of a loan [is] to release his hand which he lifts up against his neighbor, he does not exact of his neighbor and of his brother, but has proclaimed a release to YHWH;

3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

of the stranger you may exact, but that which is yours with your brother your hand releases,

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,

except there is an end [when] no poor [are] with you; for YHWH greatly blesses you in the land which your God YHWH is giving to you [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.

only if you listen diligently to the voice of your God YHWH, to observe to do all this command which I am commanding you today.

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 your God YHWH has blessed you as He has spoken to you; and you have lent [to] many nations, but you have not borrowed; and you have ruled over many nations, but they do not rule over you.

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.

When there is with you any poor of one of your brothers, in one of your cities, in your land which your God YHWH is giving to you, you do not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your needy brother;

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

for you certainly open your hand to him, and certainly lend him sufficiency for his lack which he lacks.

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.

Take heed to yourself lest there be a worthless word in your heart, saying, The seventh year [is] near, the year of release; and your eye is evil against your needy brother, and you do not give to him, and he has called to YHWH concerning you, and it has been sin in you;

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.

you certainly give to him, and your heart is not sad in your giving to him, for because of this thing your God YHWH blesses you in all your works and in every putting forth of your 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.

because the poor does not cease out of the land, therefore I am commanding you, saying, You certainly open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to your needy one in your 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.

When your brother is sold to you, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, and he has served you [for] six years, then in the seventh year you send him away free from you.

13 And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

And when you send him away free from you, you do not send him 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.

you certainly adorn him from your flock, and from your threshing-floor, and from your wine-vat; you give to him [from] that which your God YHWH has blessed you [with],

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 you have remembered that you have been a servant in the land of Egypt, and your God YHWH ransoms you; therefore I am commanding you 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 has been, when he says to you, I do not go out from you, because he has loved you and your house, because [it is] good for him with you,

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 you have taken the awl, and have put [it] through his ear, and through the door, and he has been a perpetual servant to you; and you also do so to your handmaid.

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 is not hard in your eyes in your sending him away free from you; for [his worth has been] double the hire of a hired worker [when] he has served you six years; and your God YHWH has blessed you in all that you do.

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.

Every firstling that is born in your herd and in your flock—you sanctify the male to your God YHWH; you do not work with the firstling of your ox, nor shear the firstling of your flock;

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

you eat it before your God YHWH year by year, in the place which YHWH chooses, you and your house.

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 when there is a blemish in it, [or it is] lame or blind, [or has] any evil blemish, you do not sacrifice it to your God YHWH;

22 Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.

you eat it within your gates, the unclean and the clean alike, as the roe and as the deer.

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

Only, you do not eat its blood—you pour it on the earth as water.”