Deuteronomy 15

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

In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission,

2 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;

Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord,

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

Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again.

4 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,

And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession.

5 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.

Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised.

6 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.

Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.

7 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;

If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within the gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand,

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

But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of.

9 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;

Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee.

10 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;

But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand.

11 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.

There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.

12 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.

When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free:

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

And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

14 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],

But shalt give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee.

15 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.

Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this.

16 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,

But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee:

17 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.

Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also.

18 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.

Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them tree: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost.

19 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;

Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep.

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

In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house.

21 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;

But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God.

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

But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart.

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

Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.