Deuteronomy 15
15
1 AT THE end of every seven years you shall grant a release.
2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, for the Lord's release is proclaimed.
3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother [Israelite] your hand shall release.
4 But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess,
5 If only you carefully listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to do watchfully all these commandments which I command you this day.
6 When the Lord your God blesses you as He promised you, then you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 If there is among you a poor man, one of your kinsmen in any of the towns of your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your [minds and] hearts or close your hands to your poor brother;
8 But you shall open your hands wide to him and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
9 Beware lest there be a base thought in your [minds and] hearts, and you say, 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 in you.
10 You shall give to him freely without begrudging it; because of this the Lord will bless you in all your work and in all you undertake.
11 For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hands to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.
12 And 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.
13 And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.
14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress; of what the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15 And you shall [earnestly] remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I give you this command today.
16 But if the servant says to you, I will not go away from you, because he loves you and your household, since he does well with you,
17 Then take an awl and pierce his ear through to the door, and he shall be your servant always. And also to your bondwoman you shall do likewise.
18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years; and the Lord your God will bless you in all you do.
19 All the firstling males that are born of your herd and flock you shall set apart for the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstling of your herd, nor shear the firstling of your flock.
20 You shall eat it before the Lord your God annually in the place [for worship] which the Lord shall choose, you and your household.
21 But if it has any blemish, if it is lame, blind, or has any bad blemish whatsoever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.
22 You shall eat it within your towns; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a hart.
23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
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Deuteronomy 15: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Deuteronomy 15
15
1You are to cancel debts at the end of every seven years. 2This is the way it will work: If you provided a loan to someone you must cancel it. You are not allowed to collect anything from another Israelite, because the Lord's time of debt cancelation has been announced. 3You are allowed to collect payments from a foreigner, but you must cancel whatever your fellow Israelite owes you.
4However, you shouldn't have poor people among you, for the Lord will really bless you in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own. 5You just need to make sure you obey the Lord your God, and that you're careful to follow all these commandments I'm giving you today.
6The Lord your God is going to bless you as he promised. You will lend money to many nations but you won't need to borrow from any of them; you will rule over many nations but you won't be ruled by them. 7If there are Israelites who are poor in any of your towns in the country the Lord your God is giving you, don't act in an unfeeling or miserly way towards them.
8On the contrary. You are to be generous to them, and lend them whatever they need. 9Make sure you don't think evil thoughts like, “The seventh year is coming up when debts will be canceled,” so that you look down on the poor with a sneer and refuse to give them anything. They will complain to the Lord about you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10Give and give again to them, and don't feel irritated when you give. When you give generously the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you decide to do. 11You will always have those who are poor and in need among you, so that's why I'm telling you to give generously to them.
12If a Hebrew, one of your own people, whether man or woman, sells themselves to you as a slave and works for you for six years, you have to free them in the seventh year. 13And when you free them, don't send them away with nothing. 14Give them plenty of gifts: animals from your flocks, grain from your threshing floor, and wine from your winepress. Give to them as generously as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15Don't forget that you were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God set you free. That's why I'm giving you this command today.
16However, if your male slave tells you, “I don't want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is better off staying with you, 17then use a metal tool#15:17. “Metal tool,” literally, “an awl.” to pierce his ear against the door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same for your female slave. 18Don't see it as a problem to free your slave, because your slave's six years of service to you was worth twice what you would have paid to hire someone. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do for acting in this way.
19You are to separate out to give the Lord your God all the firstborn males of your herds and flocks. You must not have the firstborn of your cattle work, and don't shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20Every year you and your family are to eat these animals that have been sacrificed in the presence of the Lord your God in the place that the Lord will choose. 21However, if an animal has some defect or is lame or blind, in fact if it has any serious defect at all, you are not to sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22Eat it at home. All of you, whether you're ceremonially clean or not, can eat it just like you would eat a gazelle or a deer, 23but you are not to eat the blood—pour that out on the ground.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com