“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And
this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release
what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his
neighbor, his brother, because the LORD's release has been
proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours
is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no
poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the
LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—if only
you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being
careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For
the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall
lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule
over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of
your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you,
you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor
brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him
sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there
be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh
year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on
your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD
against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him
freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him,
because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work
and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be
poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide
your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your
land.’
“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you,
he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let
him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you
shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally
out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your
winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to
him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this
today. But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because
he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you,
then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the
door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave
you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let
him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has
served you six years. So the LORD your God will bless you in all
that you do.
“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you
shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the
firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You
shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year
by year at the place that the LORD will choose. But if it has any
blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish
whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. You
shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may
eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not
eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
