| New Living Translation | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. | 1"At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. |
| 2This is how it must be done. Everyone must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites. They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the LORD’s time of release has arrived. | 2This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD's release of debts has been proclaimed. |
| 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. | 3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. |
| 4“There should be no poor among you, for the LORD your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. | 4"There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD is certain to bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance-- |
| 5You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. | 5if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today. |
| 6The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you. | 6When the LORD your God blesses you as he has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you. |
| 7“But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. | 7"If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. |
| 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. | 8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. |
| 9Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the LORD, you will be considered guilty of sin. | 9Be careful that there isn't this wicked thought in your heart, 'The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,' and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty. |
| 10Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. | 10Give to him, and don't have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. |
| 11There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need. Release for Hebrew Slaves | 11For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, 'Open your hand willingly to your poor and needy brother in your land.' |
| 12“If a fellow Hebrew sells himself or herself to be your servant and serves you for six years, in the seventh year you must set that servant free. | 12"If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. |
| 13“When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. | 13When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. |
| 14Give him a generous farewell gift from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Share with him some of the bounty with which the LORD your God has blessed you. | 14Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the LORD your God has blessed you with. |
| 15Remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command. | 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. |
| 16“But suppose your servant says, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and he has done well with you. | 16But if your slave says to you, 'I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, |
| 17In that case, take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door. After that, he will be your servant for life. And do the same for your female servants. | 17take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. |
| 18“You must not consider it a hardship when you release your servants. Remember that for six years they have given you services worth double the wages of hired workers, and the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. Sacrificing Firstborn Male Animals | 18Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years--worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. |
| 19“You must set aside for the LORD your God all the firstborn males from your flocks and herds. Do not use the firstborn of your herds to work your fields, and do not shear the firstborn of your flocks. | 19"Consecrate to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock. |
| 20Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at the place he chooses. | 20Each year you and your family are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD chooses. |
| 21But if this firstborn animal has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. | 21But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you may not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. |
| 22Instead, use it for food for your family in your hometown. Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat it, just as anyone may eat a gazelle or deer. | 22Eat it within your city gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer. |
| 23But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. | 23But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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