Release for Debt Slaves
1At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts.
2This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, for it is to be recognized as “the
3You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit.
4However, there should not be any poor among you, for the
5if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.
6For the
The Spirit of Liberality
7If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land that the
8Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs.
9Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the
10You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the
11There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.
Release of Debt Slaves
12If your fellow Hebrew – whether male or female – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free.
13If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.
14You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the
15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the
16However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,
17you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).
18You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the
Giving God the Best
19You must set apart for the
20You and your household must eat them annually before the
21If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the
22You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.
23However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
<< Deuteronomy 15 >>
