Deuteronomy 15

1At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

2And this is the matter of the release: every creditor shall release what his hand has lent to his neighbor. He shall not press his neighbor or his brother, because a release to Yahweh has been proclaimed.

3You may press a foreigner for payment, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

4However, there should be no poor among you, because Yahweh will surely bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

5if only you carefully listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I am commanding you today.

6For Yahweh your God has blessed you just as he 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.

7If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, within one of your gates in your land that Yahweh your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.

8Instead, you must open your hand to him and surely lend him enough for whatever he lacks.

9Be careful lest there be in your heart a wicked thought, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is near,’ and your eye be evil toward your poor brother and you give him nothing; then he may cry out against you to Yahweh, and it will be sin in you.

10You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be troubled when you give to him, because on account of this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in every undertaking of your hand.

11For the poor will never cease from the midst of the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You must surely open your hand to your brother, to your afflicted one, and to your poor one in your land.’

12If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send him out free from you.

13And when you send him away free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

14You shall surely furnish him from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress; from what Yahweh your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him.

15And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you this today.

16And if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, because it is good for him with you,

17then you shall take the awl and put it through his ear and into the door, and he shall be your servant permanently. And you shall do the same for your female servant.

18It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you, because for six years he has served you for double the wages of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.

19Every firstborn male that is born among your herd and among your flock you shall consecrate to Yahweh your God. You shall not work with the firstborn of your ox, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

20You and your household shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place that Yahweh will choose.

21But if it has a defect—being lame or blind, any bad defect—you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God.

22You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as the gazelle and the deer.

23Only, you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.