Deuteronomy 15

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

At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.

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.

This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed.

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

Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.

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.

However there will be no poor with you (for the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess)

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.

if only you diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command 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 the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will 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.

If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

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

but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, 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.

Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin to 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 shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.

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.

For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, 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.

If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

13 And when you free them, don't send them away with nothing.

When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go 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 shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

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.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command 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,

It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well 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 shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.

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 shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. The LORD your God will bless 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.

You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn 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 shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.

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.

If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

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 shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the deer.

23 but you are not to eat the blood—pour that out on the ground.

Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.