Deuteronomy 15

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

2 This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.

3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

4 There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,

5 if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.

6 When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.

7 If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.

8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.

9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

10 Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

12 If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

13 And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

14 You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

16 But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,

17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

18 Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

19 You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.

21 But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

22 Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.

23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

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

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

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

9 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 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 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 ¶ [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 thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

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

1 For seven years shalt thou keep a year of remission.

2 And this is the manner of the year of remission: if a man borrow aught of his neighbour, he shall remit it unto him, and shall not exaction it of his neighbour, or of his brother: for it is called a year of remission unto the LORD.

3 Of a stranger thou mayest remit it: but of him that is thy brother thou shalt remit it.

4 There shall no beggar be among you: for the LORD shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance;

5 Only obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and keep all these commandments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

6 For the LORD thy God shall bless thee, as he hath spoken unto thee. Thus shalt thou lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow of any. Thou shalt rule over many nations, and over thee shall no man rule.

7 If any of thy brethren be poor in any city of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, harden not thine heart, nor stay thine hand against thy poor brother,

8 But thou shalt open them unto him, and lend unto him according to his lack.

9 Beware lest there be an evil spirit in thine heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of remission, draweth nigh, and looketh unkindly upon thy poor brother, and giveth him not; and he shall cry unto the LORD against thee, and thou shalt have sin;

10 But thou shalt give unto him, and not grieve thine heart to give unto him: for because of this the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou doest.

11 There shall always be poor in the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Open thine hand unto thy brother that is oppressed and poor in thy land.

12 If thy brother, an Eberian, or an Eberian woman, sell himself unto thee, he shall serve thee six years: in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free.

13 And when thou shalt let him go free, thou shalt not let him go empty from thee,

14 But thou shalt lay up for him of thy flock, of thy threshingfloor, and of thy winepress, to give of that which the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

15 And remember that thou also wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this day.

16 And if he shall say unto thee: I will not depart from thee; for I love thee and thy house: for he is well with thee,

17 So take an awl, and bend it through his ear at the door, and let him be thy servant for ever. Thou shalt do likewise with thine handmaid.

18 And let it not seem hard unto thee, that thou shouldest let him go free: for he hath served thee as a twofold hired servant six years: so shall the LORD thy God bless thee in all that thou doest.

19 Every firstborn that is born among thy oxen and among thy sheep, which is a male, thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not till the firstlings of thine oxen, neither shalt thou feed the firstlings of thy sheep.

20 Thou shalt eat them before the LORD thy God yearly in the place which the LORD hath named, thou and thy house.

21 But if it have any blemish, limping, or blind, or any evil defect, thou shalt not offer it unto the LORD thy God,

22 But in thy gate shalt thou eat it, whether thou be unclean or clean, as the deer and the hart;

23 Only thou shalt not eat of his blood, but shalt pour it upon the earth as water.