Deuteronomy 15

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

At the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a release.

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;

And this [is] the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth [ought] unto his neighbour shall release [it; ] he shall not exact [it] of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release.

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

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [it again: ] but [that] which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

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,

Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it:

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.

Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

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.

For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign 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 there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

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

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, [in that] which he wanteth.

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 that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be 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;

Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

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.

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy 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.

[And] if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

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

And when thou sendest him out free from thee, 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],

Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: [of that] wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

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.

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

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,

And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because 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.

Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust [it] through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

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.

It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant [to thee], in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

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;

All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

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

Thou shalt eat [it] before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.

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;

And if there be [any] blemish therein, [as if it be] lame, or blind, [or have] any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.

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

Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean [person shall eat it] alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.

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

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