Deuteronomy 15
1 “At the end of every seven years, you must (cancel all debts/tell people who owe you money that they do not need to pay it back).
“At the end of seven years you make a release,
2 Do it like this: Each of you who has lent money to a fellow Israeli must cancel that debt. You must not insist that he pay it back. You must do that because Yahweh has declared that the debts must be canceled [every seven years].
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;
3 [During that year] you may require foreigners [who live among you] to pay what they owe you, but you must not try to require that any fellow Israeli pay you what he owes you.
of the stranger you may exact, but that which is yours with your brother your hand releases,
4 Yahweh our God will bless you in the land that he is giving to you. If you obey Yahweh our God and obey all the commandments that I am giving to you today, there will not be any poor people among you.
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,
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.
6 Yahweh our God will bless you like he has promised to do, and you will [be able to] lend money to people of other people-groups, but you will not [need to] borrow from any of them. You will control [the finances of] many people-groups, but they will not control your [finances].
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.
7 “In the towns that Yahweh our God is giving to you, if there are any Israelis who are poor, do not be selfish [IDM] and refuse [IDM] to help them.
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;
8 Instead, be generous [IDM] and lend to them the money that they need.
for you certainly open your hand to him, and certainly lend him sufficiency for his lack which he lacks.
9 Be sure that you do not say to yourself, ‘The year when debts will be canceled is near, [so I do not want to lend anyone any money now, because he will not need to pay it back when that year comes].’ It would be evil to even think that. If you act in an unfriendly way toward a needy fellow Israeli, and give him nothing, he will cry out to Yahweh about you, and [Yahweh will say that] you have sinned [by not helping that person].
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;
10 Give freely to poor people and give generously [IDM].
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;
11 If you do that, Yahweh will bless you in everything that you do. There will always be some poor people in your land, so I command you to give generously to poor [DOU] people.”
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.
12 “If any of your fellow Israeli men or women sell themselves to one of you [to become your slave], you must free them after they have worked for you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must free them.
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.
13 When you free them, do not allow them to go (empty-handed/without giving them anything).
And when you send him away free from you, you do not send him away empty;
14 Give to them generously from the things with which Yahweh has blessed you—sheep, grain, and wine.
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],
15 Do not forget that your ancestors were once slaves in Egypt, and Yahweh our God freed them. That is the reason that I am now commanding you to do this.
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.
16 “But one of your slaves may say, ‘I do not want to leave you.’ He loves you and your family, because you have treated him well.
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,
17 If he says that, take him to the door of your house and, [while he stands against the doorway], pierce one of his earlobes with (an awl/a sharp pointed tool). That will indicate that he will be your slave for the rest of his life. Do the same thing to any female slave [who does not want to leave you].
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.
18 “Do not complain when you are required to free your slaves. [Keep in mind that] they served you for six years, and you paid them only half as much as you pay the servants that you hire. [If you free them, ] Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do.”
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.
19 “(Set aside for/Dedicate to) Yahweh our God the firstborn male animals from your cattle and sheep. Do not force them to do any work for you, and do not (shear/cut off) the wool [of the firstborn animals to sell the wool].
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;
20 You and your family may [kill them and] eat their meat in the presence of Yahweh at the place that Yahweh chooses [for you to worship him].
you eat it before your God YHWH year by year, in the place which YHWH chooses, you and your house.
21 But if the animals have any defects, if they are lame or blind, or if they have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to Yahweh our God.
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;
22 You may [kill and] eat [the meat of those animals] at your homes. Those who have done things that cause them to become unacceptable to God and those who have not done such things are permitted to eat that meat, just like anyone is permitted to eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.
you eat it within your gates, the unclean and the clean alike, as the roe and as the deer.
23 But you must not eat any of the blood; you must drain all the blood on the ground [when you kill those animals].”
Only, you do not eat its blood—you pour it on the earth as water.”
