Deuteronomy 15
1 “At the end of seven years you make a release,
At the end of [every] seven years shalt thou 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 shall release the loan which he hath lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because the release year in honor of the Lord hath been proclaimed.
3 of the stranger you may exact, but that which is yours with your brother your hand releases,
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [payment]; but that which is thine with thy brother shall thy hand 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,
Although indeed there should be no needy man among thee; for the Lord will 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.
Yet only if thou wilt carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all this commandment 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 hath spoken unto thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but over thee shall they not rule.
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 thee a needy man, any one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy 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 wide thy hand unto him, and thou shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, which his want requireth.
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 wicked thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thy eye be thus evil against thy needy brother, so that thou wouldst give him nought; and if he cry concerning thee unto the Lord, it will be sin in 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 thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; for because of this thing the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all the acquisition of 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.
For the needy will not cease out of the land; therefore do I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open wide thy hand 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.
If thy brother, the Hebrew, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years; and in the seventh year shalt thou 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 lettest him go 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 flocks, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy wine-press; wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, that shalt thou 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 hast been a bond-man in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God hath redeemed thee; therefore do I command thee this thing today.
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 thy 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 shalt thou take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be unto thee a servant for ever; and also unto thy maid-servant shalt thou 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, that for double the wages of a hired laborer hath he served thee six years; and the Lord thy God will 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 first-born males that come of thy herds and of thy flocks shalt thou sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the first-born of thy bullock, and not shear the first-born of thy sheep.
20 you eat it before your God YHWH year by year, in the place which YHWH chooses, you and your house.
Before the Lord thy God shalt thou eat it year by year, in the place which the Lord will choose, thou with 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 thereon, if it be lame, or blind, or have any [other] 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.
Within thy gates shalt thou eat it, the unclean and the clean together, as the roebuck, and as the hart.
23 Only, you do not eat its blood—you pour it on the earth as water.”
Only the blood thereof shalt thou not eat: upon the ground shalt thou pour it out as water.
