Deuteronomy 15

1 You are to cancel debts the end of every seven years.

“At the end of seven years you make a release,

2 This is the way the it will work: If you provided a loan to someone you must cancel it. You are not allowed to collect anything from another Israelite, because the Lord's time of debt cancelation has been announced.

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 are allowed to collect payments from a foreigner, but you must cancel whatever your fellow Israelite owes you.

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

4 However, you shouldn't have poor people among you, for the Lord will really bless you in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own.

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 You just need to make sure you obey the Lord your God, and that you're careful to follow all these commandments I'm 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 The Lord your God is going to bless you as he promised. You will lend money to many nations but you won't need to borrow from any of them; you will rule over many nations but you won't be ruled by them.

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 are Israelites who are poor in any of your towns in the country the Lord your God is giving you, then you must not be unfeeling or miserly towards them.

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 On the contrary. You should be generous to them, and lend them whatever they need.

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

9 Make sure you don't think evil thoughts like, “The seventh year is coming up when debts will be canceled,” so that you look down on the poor with a sneer and refuse to give them anything. They will complain to the Lord about you, and you will be found 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 and give again to them, and don't feel irritated when you give. When you give generously the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you decide to do.

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 You will always have those who are poor and in need among you, so that's why I'm telling you to give generously to them.

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 Hebrew, one of your own people, whether man or woman, sells themselves to you as a slave and works for you for six years, you have to free them in the seventh year.

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 free them, don't send them away with nothing.

And when you send him away free from you, you do not send him away empty;

14 Give them plenty of gifts: animals from your flocks, grain from your threshing floor, and wine from your winepress. Give to them as generously 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 Don't forget that you were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God set you free. That's why I'm 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 However, if your male slave tells you, “I don't want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is better off staying 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 use a metal tool to pierce his ear against the door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same for your female slave.

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 Don't see it as a problem to free your slave, because your slave's six years of service to you was worth twice what you would have paid to hire someone. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do for acting in this way.

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 are to separate out to give the Lord your God all the firstborn males of your herds and flocks. You must not have the firstborn of your cattle work, and don't shear the firstborn of your sheep.

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 Every year you and your family are to eat these animals that have been sacrificed in the presence of the Lord your God in the place that 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 However, if an animal has some defect or is lame or blind, in fact if it has any serious defect at all, you are not to 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 at home. All of you, whether you're ceremonially clean or not, can it eat it just like you would eat 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 are not to eat the blood—pour that out on the ground.

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