DEUTERONOMY 15

At the end of each seven years you shall make a release. 2 And this is the nature of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbour; he shall not exact it from his neighbour and his brother, because a release to Yehowah is proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may exact it; but your hand shall release what is yours with your brother. 4 But there will be no needy person among you, for Yehowah will bless you abundantly in the land which Yehowah your God gives you to possess as an inheritance, 5 if indeed you attend to the voice of Yehowah your God, and take care to observe all this commandment which I give you today. 6 For Yehowah your God will, bless you as he has promised you; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is a needy person among you, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land which Yehowah your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your needy brother; 8 but you shall open wide your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he lacks. 9 Take care that there is no base thought in your heart, and you say, The seventh year, the year of release, is near; and your eye is evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing, so that he cries to Yehowah against you, and it is a sin in you. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because for this thing Yehowah your God will bless you in all your work, and in everything to which you put your hands. 11 For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, and say, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the poor and the needy in your land.

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed: 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing-floor, and your winepress; as Yehowah your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yehowah your God redeemed you; therefore I give you this command today. 16 But if he says to you, I will not leave you; because he loves you and your household, because he is content with you, 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce his ear with it against the door, and he shall be your slave for ever. And you shall also do the same to your female slave. 18 It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you for six years. So Yehowah your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 You shall sanctify to Yehowah your God all the firstborn males born in your herds and flocks; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your cattle, nor shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20 You and your household shall eat it before Yehowah your God year by year at the place which Yehowah will choose. 21 But if there is a blemish in it, lameness or blindness, any serious blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to Yehowah your God. 22 You shall eat it within your gates, unclean and clean people alike, as though it was a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not consume its blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water.