Deutéronome 15

The release of debts

¹At the close of every seven years you are to grant a release of debts. ²This is how the release is to be done: every creditor is to let go of what he has lent to his neighbor. He must not press his neighbor, his fellow Israelite, for payment, because a release in honor of the LORD has been proclaimed.^{a 3}You may press a foreigner for payment, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must release. ⁴Yet there will be no one in need among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,^{b 5}provided that you listen closely to the voice of the LORD your God and carefully keep this whole commandment I lay on you today. ⁶For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you. Many nations will borrow from you, and you will borrow from none; many nations will be under your rule, and none will rule you.

Open your hand to the poor

⁷If one of your fellow Israelites in one of your towns, in the land the LORD your God is giving you, falls into need, do not harden your heart or keep your hand closed against that needy person. ⁸Instead, open your hand to him generously and lend him as much as he needs to meet his want. ⁹Be on your guard against a base thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is close,’ so that you look grudgingly at your needy fellow Israelite and give him nothing. He may cry out to the LORD against you, and the sin will be counted against you. ¹⁰Give to him freely, and do not be sorry in your heart as you give. For this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in every task you take up. ¹¹For the needy will never be gone from the land. So I command you: open your hand freely to your brother, to the poor and needy among your people in your land.

Setting slaves free

¹²If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you as a slave and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must send that person away free. ¹³When you set him free, do not let him go with empty hands. ¹⁴Load him generously with gifts from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give him a share of what the LORD your God has blessed you with. ¹⁵Keep in mind that you yourself were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. This is the reason for the command I give you today. ¹⁶But if he tells you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your household and life with you is good for him, ¹⁷then you are to take an awl and pierce his ear with it, right into the door; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way. ¹⁸Do not take it hard when you let him go free. His six years of service have been worth double a hired worker’s wages. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.^c

Firstborn animals

¹⁹Every firstborn male born in your herd and your flock is to be made holy to the LORD your God. You must not work the firstborn of your cattle or shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰Year after year, at the place the LORD will choose, you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God. ²¹But if it is flawed in any way, lame or blind or with any other serious defect, it is not to be sacrificed to the LORD your God. ²²Eat it in your own towns. Anyone, unclean or clean, may eat it, just as with gazelle or deer. ²³Only, you must not eat its blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.