Deuteronomy

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

2 And this shall be the manner of the release, Every creditor who lendeth aught to his neighbour his hand shall release it,—he shall not exact it of his neighbour or his brother, because there hath been proclaimed a release unto Yahweh.

3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it,—but what thou hast with thy brother thy hand shall release;

4 save when there shall be among you no needy person,—for Yahweh will indeed bless thee, in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as an inheritance to possess it:

5 only if thou do hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God,—to observe to do—all this commandment which I am commanding thee to-day.

6 When Yahweh thy God hath blessed thee, as he spake unto thee, then shalt thou lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt rule over many nations, but over thee shall they not rule.

7 When there cometh to be among you a needy person, any one of thy brethren within any one of thy gates, in thy land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother;

8 but thou shalt open thy hand unto him,—and lend him enough to meet the poverty which doth impoverish him.

9 Take thou heed to thyself lest there be something near thine abandoned heart, saying—Drawing nigh is the seventh year, the year of release, and so thine eye be evil against thy needy brother, and thou give not unto him,—and he cry out against thee unto Yahweh, and it become in thee a sin!

10 Thou shalt give unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil when thou givest unto him,—for on account of this very thing will Yahweh thy God bless thee, in all that thou doest, and in all whereunto thou puttest thy hand.

11 For the needy will not cease out of the midst of the land—for this cause am I commanding thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy in thy land.

12 When thy brother, a Hebrew man (or a Hebrew woman) selleth himself unto thee, then shall he serve thee six years,—and in the seventh year shalt thou let him go out free from thee;

13 and when thou lettest him go out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go out empty:

14 thou shalt richly load him out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy wine-vat,—of that wherewith Yahweh thy God hath blessed thee, shalt thou give unto him;

15 and thou shalt remember that a servant thou wast in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh thy God redeemed thee,—for this cause am I commanding thee this thing to-day.

16 And it shall be, if he shall say unto thee, I will not go away from thee,—because he loveth thee and thy household, because he is well off with thee,

17 then shalt thou take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, so shall he be thy servant all his life. And unto thine handmaid also shalt thou do thus.

18 It shall not be hard in thine eyes when thou lettest him go out free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling hath he served thee six years,—so will Yahweh thy God bless thee in all that thou doest.

19 Every firstling that is brought forth in thy herd and in thy flock that is a male shalt thou hallow unto Yahweh thy God,—thou shalt not work with a firstling of thine oxen, neither shalt thou shear a firstling of thy flock:

20 before Yahweh thy God shalt thou eat it, year by year, in the place which Yahweh shall choose,—thou and thy household.

21 But when there is in it any blemish, lameness or blindness, any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto Yahweh thy God:

22 within thine own gates mayest thou eat it,—the unclean [of you] and the clean alike, as the gazelle and as the hart.

23 Only the blood thereof shalt thou not eat,—on the earth shalt thou pour it out like water.