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)

Hebrew Servants^(A)(B)

² “If you buy a Hebrew servant,^(C) he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free,^(D) without paying anything. ³ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’^{(E) 6} then his master must take him before the judges.^[a](F) He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce^(G) his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.^(H)

⁷ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,^[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.^{(I) 11} If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Freeing Servants^(A)(B)

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.^{(C) 13} And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. ¹⁴ Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor^(D) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves^(E) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.^(F) 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.