Deuteronomy 15
15
The Special Year of Canceling Debts
1“At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. 2This is the way you must do this: Everyone who has lent money to another Israelite must cancel the debt. He should not ask a fellow Israelite to repay the debt, because the Lord said to cancel debts during that year. 3You may require a foreigner to repay you, but you must cancel any debt another Israelite owes you. 4There should not be any poor people in your country, because the Lord your God is giving you this land. And the Lord will greatly bless you. 5But this will happen only if you obey the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey every command that I have told you today. 6Then the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised. And you will have enough money to make loans to many nations. But you will not need to borrow from anyone. You will rule over many nations. But none of these nations will rule over you.
7“When you are living in the land the Lord your God is giving you, there might be some poor people living among you. You must not be selfish. You must not refuse to give help to them. 8You must be willing to share with them. You must lend them whatever they need.
9“Don’t ever refuse to help someone simply because the seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near. Don’t let an evil thought like that enter your mind. You must never have bad thoughts about someone who needs help. You must not refuse to help them. If you don’t help the poor, they might complain to the Lord, and he will judge you guilty of sin.
10“So be sure to give to the poor. Don’t hesitate to give to them, because the Lord your God will bless you for doing this good thing. He will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. 11There will always be poor people in the land. That is why I command you to be ready to help your brother or sister. Give to the poor in your land who need help.
Letting Slaves Go Free
12“You might buy a Hebrew man or woman to serve you as a slave. You may keep that person as a slave for six years. But in the seventh year, you must let that person go free. 13But when you let your slave go free, don’t send him away with nothing. 14You must give him some of your animals, grain, and wine. The Lord your God blessed you and gave you plenty of good things. In the same way you must give plenty of good things to your slave. 15Remember, you were slaves in Egypt. And the Lord your God set you free. So that is why I am giving you this command today.
16“But one of your slaves might say to you, ‘I will not leave you.’ He might say this because he loves you and your family and because he has a good life with you. 17Make this servant put his ear against your door and use a sharp tool to make a hole in his ear. This will show that he is your slave forever. You must do this even to the women slaves who want to stay with you.
18“Don’t regret letting your slave go free. Remember, he served you six years for half of what you would have paid a hired worker.#15:18 Remember … hired worker Or “Remember, he served you for six years for the same amount you would have paid a hired worker.” The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Rules About Firstborn Animals
19“All the first male animals born in your herd and flock are special. You must give them to the Lord. Don’t use any of these animals for your work and don’t cut wool from any of these sheep. 20Every year you must take these animals to the place the Lord your God will choose. There with the Lord, you and your family will eat these animals.
21“But if an animal has something wrong with it—if it is crippled or blind or has something else wrong with it—then you must not sacrifice that animal to the Lord your God. 22But you may eat the meat from that animal at home. Anyone may eat it—people who are clean and people who are unclean. The rules for eating this meat are the same as the rules for eating gazelles and deer. 23But you must not eat the blood from the animal. You must pour the blood out on the ground like water.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Deuteronomy 15
15
The Sabbatical Year
1“At the end of #ch. 31:10; Neh. 10:31; [ver. 12; Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:2-4]every seven years you shall grant a release. 2And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3#[ch. 23:20]Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4#[ver. 11] But there will be no poor among you; #ch. 28:8for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5#ch. 28:1if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6For the Lord your God will bless you, #ch. 7:13; Ex. 23:25 as he promised you, and #ch. 28:12, 44 you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and #ch. 28:13; 1 Kgs. 4:21, 24; Ezra 4:20; [Prov. 22:7]you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, #[1 John 3:17]you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8but #Lev. 25:35; [Matt. 5:42; Luke 6:34, 35]you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your #ch. 28:54, 56; Prov. 23:6; 28:22; Matt. 20:15 eye look grudgingly#15:9 Or be evil; also verse 10 on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he #ch. 24:15 cry to the Lord against you, and #[Matt. 25:41, 42]you be guilty of sin. 10You shall give to him freely, and #[2 Cor. 9:7] your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because #Prov. 28:27; See ch. 14:29for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11For #[Matt. 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8] there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, #[See ver. 8 above]‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 #
Ex. 21:2; Jer. 34:14; [Lev. 25:39-41] “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold#15:12 Or sells himself to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. #ch. 8:18; 16:17As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15#See ch. 5:15You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16But #Ex. 21:5, 6if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave#15:17 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface) forever. And to your female slave#15:17 Or servant you shall do the same. 18It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 # See Ex. 13:2 “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20#ch. 12:7; 14:23, 26You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21#See Lev. 22:20But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22You shall eat it within your towns. #ch. 12:15The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23#See Lev. 3:17Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
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