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Deuteronomy 15
GOD’S WORD Translation
Deuteronomy 15
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Seventh-Year Celebration
15 At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. 2 This is what you will do: If you’ve made a loan, don’t collect payment on the debt your neighbor still owes you. Don’t demand that your neighbor or relative pay you, because the ⌞time⌟ for suspending payments on debts has been proclaimed in the Lord’s honor. 3 You may demand that a foreigner pay, but don’t collect payment on the debt another Israelite still owes you. 4 In any case, there shouldn’t be any poor people among you, because the Lord your God will certainly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own possession. 5 He will bless you only if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you, as he promised. You will make loans to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any of them. You will rule many nations, but no nation will ever rule you.
7 This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 8 Be generous to these poor people, and freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hard-hearted and tight-fisted with them.[a]
9 When the seventh year—the year when payments on debts are canceled—is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to the Lord about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. 10 Be sure to give to them without any hesitation. When you do this, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you work for and set out to do. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. That’s why I command you to be generous to other Israelites who are poor and needy.
12 Whenever Hebrew men or women are sold to you as slaves, they will be your slaves for six years. In the seventh year you must let them go free. 13 But when you let them go, don’t send them away empty-handed. 14 Generously give them provisions—sheep from your flocks, grain from your threshing floor,[b] and wine from your winepress. Be as generous to them as the Lord your God has been to you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God freed you. That’s why I’m giving you this command today.
16 But suppose a male slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is happy with you. 17 Then take an awl and pierce it through his ear lobe into a door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same to a female slave ⌞if she doesn’t want to leave⌟.
18 If you have to let your slave go free, it won’t be a hardship for you. It would have cost you twice as much to hire someone to do the same work for those six years. Besides, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Setting Aside Firstborn Males for God
19 You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to the Lord your God. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep. 20 Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God in the place the Lord will choose. 21 But if an animal is lame or blind or has any other serious defect—never sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 Eat it in your city. Clean and unclean [c] people may eat them together as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. 23 But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.
Footnotes
- 15:8 This sentence has been moved from verse 7 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.
- 15:14 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
- 15:22 “Clean ” refers to anything that is presentable to God. “Unclean ” refers to anything that is not presentable to God.
Deuteronomy 15
New International Version
Deuteronomy 15
New International Version
The Year for Canceling Debts(A)
15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.(B) 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner,(C) but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. 4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless(D) you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow(E) all these commands I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.(F)
7 If anyone is poor(G) among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted(H) toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded(I) and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts,(J) is near,” so that you do not show ill will(K) toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.(L) 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;(M) then because of this the Lord your God will bless(N) you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people(O) in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.(P)
Freeing Servants(Q)(R)
12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.(S) 13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor(T) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves(U) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.(V) That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
The Firstborn Animals
19 Set apart for the Lord(W) your God every firstborn male(X) of your herds and flocks.(Y) Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.(Z) 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose.(AA) 21 If an animal has a defect,(AB) is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.(AC) 22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.(AD) 23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.(AE)
Deuteronomy 15
King James Version
Deuteronomy 15
King James Version
15 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
2 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 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
4 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 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 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 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 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
9 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 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 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 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 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
14 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
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