¹³ ‘^(A)You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. ^(B)The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning.

Of Poor Countrymen

³⁵ ‘^(A)Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his ^[a]means among you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a resident, so that he may live with you. ^36 (B)Do not take ^[b]any kind of interest from him, but ^[c]fear your God, so that your countryman may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food ^[d]for profit. ^38 (C)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and ^(D)to be your God.

³⁹ ‘Now ^(E)if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. ⁴⁰ He shall be with you as a hired worker, ^(F)as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ He shall then leave you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, so that he may return to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. ^43 (G)You shall not rule over him with ^[e]severity, but are to revere your God.

⁷ “If there is ^(A)a poor person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your ^[a]towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(B)you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; ⁸ but ^(C)you shall fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks. ⁹ Be careful that there is no mean-spirited ^[b]thought in your heart, ^[c]such as, ‘^(D)The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and ^(E)your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he ^(F)may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. ¹⁰ You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be ^[d]grudging when you give to him, because ^(G)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all ^[e]your undertakings. ^11 (H)For the poor will not cease ^[f]to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

¹² “^(I)If your fellow countryman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him ^[g]free. ¹³ And when you set him ^[h]free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ You shall give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. ¹⁵ And you are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding ^[i]this of you today. ¹⁶ But it shall come about, ^(J)if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an ^[j]awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant permanently. You shall also do the same to your female slave.

¹⁸ “It shall not seem difficult for you when you set him ^[k]free, because he has given you six years with double the ^[l]service of a hired worker; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.

“Yet You Have Not Returned to Me”