DeuteronomyChapter 15

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¹At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. ²This is how you must cancel them. Everyone who has lent something to his neighbor must cancel the loan. He must not make his neighbor or his brother pay it back. That is because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been announced. ³You may make a foreigner pay you back. But you must cancel whatever your brother owes you. ⁴But there will be no poor people among you, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land. The LORD your God is giving you this land to own as your share. ⁵He will do this if you just obey the LORD your God. Be careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. ⁶The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised. Then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow from any. You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you. ⁷There may be a poor man among your brothers in one of your towns. It may be in the land the LORD your God is giving you. If so, do not be hard-hearted toward your poor brother. Do not close your hand to him. ⁸Instead, open your hand to him. Gladly lend him whatever he needs. ⁹Be careful not to let this wicked thought into your heart: "The seventh year is near. That is the year when debts are canceled." Do not let that thought make you look at your poor brother with a stingy heart and give him nothing. If you do, he will cry out to the LORD against you. And you will be guilty of sin. ¹⁰Give to him freely. Do not feel sad in your heart when you give. Because of this, the LORD your God will bless you in all your work. He will bless everything you put your hand to. ¹¹There will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am commanding you to open your hand wide to your brother. Open it wide to the poor and needy people in your land. ¹²A fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, may be sold to you. That person may serve you for six years. Then in the seventh year you must set that servant free. ¹³And when you set him free, do not send him away with empty hands. ¹⁴Give him plenty from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. Give to him in the same way the LORD your God has blessed you. ¹⁵Remember 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. ¹⁶But your servant may say to you, 'I don't want to leave you.' He may say this because he loves you and your family and is doing well with you. ¹⁷If so, take an awl, a sharp tool. Push it through his ear into the door. Then he will be your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant. ¹⁸Do not think it is too hard to set your servant free, because his six years of work were worth twice as much as a hired worker's pay. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. ¹⁹Every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks must be set apart for the LORD your God. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work. Do not cut the wool from the firstborn of your sheep. ²⁰Each year you and your family must eat these animals before the LORD your God. Eat them at the place the LORD will choose. ²¹But an animal may have something wrong with it. It may be lame or blind, or it may have some other serious flaw. If so, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. ²²Eat it in your own town. People who are ceremonially unclean and people who are clean may both eat it. They may eat it as they would eat a gazelle or a deer. ²³But you must not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.