1 “ At the end of every seven years you must do away with debts that are owed.

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

2 T his is the way you are to do it: Every man who has loaned money must forget the debt. He cannot make his neighbor and his brother pay it because the Lord has said that all should be forgotten.

And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord 's release.

3 Y ou may make a stranger pay what he owes, but not your brother.

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

4 Y et there will be no poor among you for the Lord will be sure to bring good to you in the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.

Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:

5 B ut you must listen and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Be careful to do all the Law which I am telling you today.

Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

6 T he Lord your God will bring good to you as He has promised. You will let many nations use what belongs to you but you will not use what belongs to them. You will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.

For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

7 “ In any of the towns in your land the Lord your God is giving you, if there is anyone poor among you, do not let your heart be hard and not be willing to help him.

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

8 B e free to give to him. Let him use what is yours of anything he needs.

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

9 B e careful that there is no sinful thought in your heart, saying, ‘It is almost the seventh year, the time to do away with the debt owed to me,’ so you look on your brother with hate and give him nothing. Then he may cry to the Lord against you and you may be guilty of sin.

Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

10 G ive much to him, without being sorry that you do. Because the Lord your God will bring good to you for this, in all your work and in everything you do.

Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

11 T he poor will always be in the land. So I tell you to be free in giving to your brother, to those in need, and to the poor in your land.

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

12 “ If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he will work for you six years. But you must set him free in the seventh year.

And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

13 W hen you set him free, do not send him away with nothing.

And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

14 G ive him much from your flock, from your grain, and from your wine. Give to him as the Lord your God has given to you.

Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

15 R emember that you were servants in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God set you free. And so I am telling you today to do this.

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

16 B ut he may say to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and those of your house and gets along well with you.

And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;

17 T hen take a sharp tool and put it through his ear into the door. And he will be your servant forever. Do the same with your woman servant.

Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

18 I t should not be hard for you to set him free for he has worked for you six years. He has been worth twice as much as a man paid to work for you. The Lord your God will bring good to you in whatever you do.

It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

19 “ Set apart for the Lord your God all the first-born males among your cattle and your flock. Do no work with the first-born of your cattle. Do not cut the wool from the first-born of your flock.

All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

20 Y ou and those of your house will eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses.

Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household.

21 B ut do not kill it and give it to the Lord your God if it is not perfect, such as not being able to walk or see, or anything else wrong with it.

And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.

22 E at it within your towns. Both the clean and the unclean may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or deer.

Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.

23 B ut do not eat its blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.