Deuteronomy 15:1-23 NASB20 - Bible AI

¹“At the end of every seven years you shall [259]grant a release of debts.

²And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’S release has been proclaimed.

³From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall [260]forgive whatever of yours is with your brother.

⁴However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will certainly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

⁵if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to [261]follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

⁶For the LORD your God will have blessed you just as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your [262]towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;

⁸but you shall fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks.

⁹Be careful that there is no mean-spirited [263]thought in your heart, [264]such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.

¹⁰You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be [265]grudging when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work, and in all [266]your undertakings.

¹¹For the poor will not cease [267]to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

¹²“If your fellow countryman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him [268]free.

¹³And when you set him [269]free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

¹⁴You shall give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹⁵And you are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding [270]this of you today.

¹⁶But it shall come about, if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you,

¹⁷then you shall take an [271]awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant permanently. You shall also do the same to your female slave.

¹⁸“It shall not seem difficult for you when you set him [272]free, because he has given you six years with double the [273]service of a hired worker; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.

¹⁹“You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born in your herd and in your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

²⁰You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses.

²¹But if it has any impairment, such as a limp, or blindness, or any serious impairment, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

²²You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer.

²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.