| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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 shall grant a remission of 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. | 2"This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed. |
| 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. | 3"From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. |
| 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"However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, |
| 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 listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding 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. | 6"For the LORD 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“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 man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; |
| 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. | 8but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. |
| 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. | 9"Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,' and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you. |
| 10Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. | 10"You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. |
| 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 | 11"For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor 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 kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. |
| 13“When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. | 13"When you set him free, you shall 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. | 14"You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. |
| 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. | 15"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. |
| 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. | 16"It shall come about if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well 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. | 17then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. |
| 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 | 18"It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever 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"You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor 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. | 20"You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place which 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. | 21"But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall 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. | 22"You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer. |
| 23But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. | 23"Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out 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. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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