CHAPTER 15
This
is the manner
of remission:
Every
creditor
shall cancel
what
he has loaned
his neighbor.
He is not
to collect
anything
from his neighbor
or brother,
because
the LORD’s
time of release
has been proclaimed.
There will be
no
poor among you,
however,
because
the LORD
will surely bless you
in the land
the LORD
your God
is giving
you
to possess
as an inheritance,
if
only
you obey
the LORD
your God
and are careful
to follow
all
these
commandments
I
am giving you today.
When the LORD
your God
blesses you
as
He has promised,
you will lend
to many
nations
but borrow
from none;
you will rule
over many
nations,
but be ruled
by none.
If
there is
a poor man
among
your brothers
within any
of the gates
in the land
that
the LORD
your God
is giving you,
you are not
to harden
your heart
or
shut
your hand
from your poor
brother.
Be careful
not to harbor
this wicked
thought
in
your heart,
“The seventh
year,
the year
of release,
is near,”
so that you look upon
your poor
brother
begrudgingly
and give him
nothing.
He will cry out
to
the LORD
against you,
and you will be
guilty of sin.
Give generously
to him,
and do not
let your heart
be grieved
when you do so.
And because of
this
the LORD
your God
will bless
you in all
your work
and in everything
to which you put
your hand.
For
there will never
cease
to be poor
in
the land;
that is why
I
am commanding you
to
open
wide
your hand
to your brother
and to the poor
and needy
in your land.
If
a fellow
Hebrew,
a man or
a woman,
sells himself
to you
and serves you
six
years,
in the seventh
year
you must set
him free.
You are to furnish
him liberally
from your flock,
your threshing floor,
and your winepress.
You shall give
to him
as
the LORD
your God
has blessed you.
Remember
that
you were
slaves
in the land
of Egypt,
and the LORD
your God
redeemed you;
that is why
I
am giving
you
this
command
today.
But if
your servant says
to you,
‘I do not
want to leave you,’
because
he loves
you
and your household
and
is well off
with you,
take
an awl
and pierce it
through his ear
into the door,
and he will become
your
servant
for life.
And
treat
your maidservant
the same way.
Do not
regard it
as a hardship
to set
your servant
free,
because
his six
years
of service
were worth twice
the wages
of a hired hand.
And the LORD
your God
will bless you
in all
you do.
You must set apart
to the LORD
your God
every
firstborn
male
produced
by your herds
and flocks.
You are not
to put the firstborn
of your oxen
to work
or
shear
the firstborn
of your flock.
Each year
you
and your household
are to eat it
before
the LORD
your God
in the place
the LORD
will choose.
But if
an animal has
a defect,
is lame
or
blind,
or has any
serious
flaw,
you must not
sacrifice
it to the LORD
your God.
Eat it
within your gates;
both
the unclean
person and the clean may eat it
as if it were a gazelle
or deer.