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

`At the end of seven years thou dost 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 the matter of the release: Every owner of a loan to release his hand which he doth lift up against his neighbour, he doth not exact of his neighbour and of his brother, but hath proclaimed a release to Jehovah;

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

of the stranger thou mayest exact, and that which is thine with thy brother doth thy hand 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.

only when there is no needy one with thee, for Jehovah doth greatly bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- 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 dost diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this command which I am commanding thee to-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 Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee as He hath spoken to thee; and thou hast lent many nations, and thou hast not borrowed; and thou hast ruled over many nations, and over thee they do not rule.

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.

`When there is with thee any needy one of one of thy brethren, in one of thy cities, in thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, thou dost not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother;

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

for thou dost certainly open thy hand to him, and dost certainly lend him sufficient for his lack which he lacketh.

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.

`Take heed to thee lest there be a word in thy heart -- worthless, saying, Near the seventh year, the year of release; and thine eye is evil against thy needy brother, and thou dost not give to him, and he hath called concerning thee unto Jehovah, and it hath been in thee sin;

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 dost certainly give to him, and thy heart is not sad in thy giving to him, for because of this thing doth Jehovah thy God bless thee in all thy works, and in every putting forth of thy hand;

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.

because the needy one doth not cease out of the land, therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Thou dost certainly open thy hand to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy one, 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.

`When thy brother is sold to thee, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, and he hath served thee six years -- then in the seventh year thou dost send him away free from thee.

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

And when thou dost send him away free from thee, thou dost not send him 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 dost certainly encircle him out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy wine-vat; that which Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou dost give to 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 hast remembered that a servant thou hast been in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God doth ransom thee; therefore I am commanding 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 hath been, when he saith unto thee, I go not out from thee -- because he hath loved thee, and thy house, because good for him 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 hast taken the awl, and hast put through his ear, and through the door, and he hath been to thee a servant age-during; and also to thy handmaid thou dost do so.

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 is not hard in thine eyes, in thy sending him away free from thee; for the double of the hire of an hireling he hath served thee six years, and Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all that thou dost.

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.

`Every firstling that is born in thy herd and in thy flock -- the male thou dost sanctify to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock;

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

before Jehovah thy God thou dost eat it year by year, in the place which Jehovah doth choose, thou and thy house.

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 when there is in it a blemish, lame, or blind, any evil blemish, thou dost not sacrifice it to Jehovah 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.

within thy gates thou dost eat it, the unclean and the clean alike, as the roe, and as the hart.

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

Only, its blood thou dost not eat; on the earth thou dost pour it as water.