Deuteronomy 15

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

At the end of 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, shall be the manner of the release, Every creditor who lendeth aught to his neighbour, his hand shall release it, —he shall not exact it of his neighbour or his brother, because there hath been proclaimed a release unto Yahweh.

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, —but, what thou hast with thy brother, thy 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 among you no needy person, —for Yahweh will indeed bless, thee, in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as 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 do hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, —to observe to do—all this commandment which I am commanding thee to-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.

When, Yahweh thy God, hath blessed thee, as he spake unto thee, then shalt thou 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;

When there cometh to be among you a needy person any one of thy brethren within any one of thy gates, in thy land, which Yahweh thy God is giving unto 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, thy hand unto him, —and, lend, him enough to meet the poverty which doth impoverish him.

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;

Take thou heed to thyself lest there be something near thine abandoned heart, saying—Drawing nigh, is the seventh year the year of release, and so thine eye be evil, against thy needy brother, and thou give not unto him, —and he cry out against thee unto Yahweh, and it become in thee a sin!

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, give, unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil when thou givest unto him, —for on account of this very thing, will Yahweh thy God bless thee, in all that thou doest and in all whereunto thou puttest 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 midst of the land—for this cause, am I commanding thee, saying, Thou shalt open, 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.

When thy brother a Hebrew man (or a Hebrew woman) selleth himself unto thee, then shall he serve thee six years, —and in the seventh year, shalt thou let him go out 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 out 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, richly load, him out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor and out of thy wine-vat, —of that wherewith Yahweh thy God hath blessed thee, 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 a servant, thou wast in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh thy God, redeemed thee, —for this cause, am I commanding 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 shall say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, —because he loveth thee, and thy household, because he is well off 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, so shall he be thy servant all his life. And unto thine handmaid also, shalt thou do thus.

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 be hard in thine eyes when thou lettest him go out free, from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling, hath he served thee six years, —so will Yahweh thy God 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;

Every firstling that is brought forth in thy herd and in thy flock that is a male, shalt thou hallow unto Yahweh thy God, —thou shalt not work with a firstling of thine oxen, neither shalt thou shear a firstling of thy flock:

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

before Yahweh thy God, shalt thou eat it year by year, in the place which Yahweh 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;

But, when there is in it any blemish, lameness or blindness, any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto Yahweh thy God:

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

within thine own gates, mayest thou eat it, —the unclean of you and the clean alike, as the gazelle 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, —on the earth, shalt thou pour it out like water.