Deuteronomy 15

1 At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.

Every seven years thou shalt make a release.

2 This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed.

And this [is] the ordinance of the release: thou shalt remit every private debt which thy neighbour owes thee, and thou shalt not ask payment of it from thy brother; for it has been called a release to the Lord thy God.

3 Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.

Of a stranger thou shalt ask again whatsoever he has of thine, but to thy brother thou shalt remit his debt to thee.

4 However there will be no poor with you (for the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess)

For [thus] there shall not be a poor person in the midst of thee, for the Lord thy God will surely bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God gives thee by inheritance, that thou shouldest inherit it.

5 if only you diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today.

And if ye shall indeed hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep and do all these commandments, as many as I charge thee this day,

6 For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

(for the Lord thy God has blessed thee in the way of which he spoke to thee, ) then thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

7 If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

And if there shall be in the midst of thee a poor [man] of thy brethren in one of thy cities in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, neither shalt thou by any means close up thine hand from thy brother who is in want.

8 but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.

Thou shalt surely open thine hands to him, and shalt lend to him as much as he wants according to his need.

9 Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin to you.

Take heed to thyself that there be not a secret thing in thine heart, an iniquity, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, draws nigh; and thine eye shall be evil to thy brother that is in want, and thou shalt not give to him, and he shall cry against thee to the Lord, and there shall be great sin in thee.

10 You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.

Thou shalt surely give to him, and thou shalt lend him as much as he wants, according as he is in need; and thou shalt not grudge in thine heart as thou givest to him, because on this account the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all things on which thou shalt lay thine hand.

11 For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

For the poor shall not fail off thy land, therefore I charge thee to do this thing, saying, Thou shalt surely open thine hands to thy poor brother, and to him that is distressed upon thy land.

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

And if thy brother [or sister], a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, be sold to thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year thou shalt send him out free from thee.

13 When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty.

And when thou shalt send him out free from thee, thou shalt not send him out empty.

14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

Thou shalt give him provision for the way from thy flock, and from thy corn, and from thy wine; as the Lord thy God has blessed thee, thou shalt give to him.

15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I charge thee to do this thing.

16 It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you,

And if he should say to thee, I will not go out from thee, because he continues to love thee and thy house, because he is well with thee;

17 then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.

then thou shalt take an awl, and bore his ear through to the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever; and in like manner shalt thou do to thy maid-servant.

18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. The LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

It shall not seem hard to thee when they are sent out free from thee, because [thy servant] has served thee six years according to the annual hire of a hireling; so the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all things whatsoever thou mayest do.

19 You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

Every first-born that shall be born among thy kine and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify the males to the Lord thy God; thou shalt not work with thy first-born calf, and thou shalt not shear the first-born of thy sheep.

20 You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.

Thou shalt eat it before the Lord year by year in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy house.

21 If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

And if there be in it a blemish, if it be lame or blind, an evil blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it to the Lord thy God.

22 You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the deer.

Thou shalt eat it in thy cities; the unclean in thee and the clean shall eat it in like manner, as the doe or the stag.

23 Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Only ye shall not eat the blood; thou shalt pour it out on the earth as water.