Deuteronomy 15
15
The Seventh Year
(Lev 25.1–7)
1“At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money. 2This is how it is to be done. All who have lent money to a fellow-Israelite are to cancel the debt; they must not try to collect the money; the LORD himself has declared the debt cancelled. 3You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.
4“The LORD your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor 5if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today. 6The LORD will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.
7 #
Lev 25.35
“If in any of the towns in the land that the LORD your God is giving you there is a fellow-Israelite in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help him. 8Instead, be generous and lend him as much as he needs. 9Do not refuse to lend him something, just because the year when debts are cancelled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, he will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty. 10Give to him freely and unselfishly, and the LORD will bless you in everything you do. 11#Mt 26.11; Mk 14.7; Jn 12.8There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.
The Treatment of Slaves
(Ex 21.1–11)
12 #
Lev 25.39–46
“If a fellow-Israelite sells himself or herself#15.12 sells himself or herself; or is sold. to you as a slave, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free. 13When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed. 14Give to them generously from what the LORD has blessed you with — sheep, corn, and wine. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.
16“But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay. 17Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way. 18Do not be resentful when you set a slave free; after all, the slave has served you for six years at half the cost of a hired servant.#15.18 at half… servant; or and has worked twice as hard as a hired servant. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
The Firstborn Cattle and Sheep
19 #
Ex 13.12
“Set aside for the LORD your God all the firstborn males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep. 20Each year you and your family are to eat them in the LORD's presence at the one place of worship. 21But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the LORD your God. 22You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope. 23#Gen 9.4; Lev 7.26–27; 17.10–14; 19.26; Deut 12.16, 23But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.
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Deuteronomy 15: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Deuteronomy 15
15
1At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not exact it of his neighbour and his brother; because the LORD'S release hath been proclaimed. 3Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thine hand shall release. 4Howbeit there shall be no poor with thee; (for the LORD will surely bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it;) 5if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. 6For the LORD thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. 7If there be with thee a poor man, 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: 8but thou shalt surely open thine hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth. 9Beware that there be not a base thought in thine heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. 10Thou 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 work, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. 11For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land.
12If 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. 13And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty: 14thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress: as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15And 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 today. 16And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; 17then thou shalt take an awl, 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. 18It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of an hireling hath he served thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
19All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. 20Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. 21And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. 23Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water.
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