15:1 At the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a
release.
15:2 And this [is] the manner of the release: Every creditor
that lendeth [aught] to his neighbor shall release [it]; he
shall not exact [it] of his neighbor, or of his brother;
because it is called the LORD'S release.
15:3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [it again]: but [that]
which is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release:
15:4 Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD
shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it:
15:5 Only if thou shalt carefully hearken to the voice of the
LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I
command thee this day.
15:6 For the LORD thy God shall bless thee, as he promised thee:
and thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow;
and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not
reign over thee.
15:7 If there shall be among you a poor man of one of thy
brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD the
God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy
hand from thy poor brother:
15:8 But thou shalt open thy hand wide to him, and shalt surely
lend him sufficient for his need, [in that] which he wanteth.
15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart,
saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and
thy eye shall be evil against thy poor brother, and thou shalt
give him naught; and he shall cry to the LORD against thee, and
it shall be sin to thee.
15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be
grieved when thou givest to him: because that for this thing
the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all
that thou puttest thy hand to.
15:11 For the poor shall never cease from the land: therefore I
command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand wide to thy
brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
15:12 [And] if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman,
shall be sold to thee, and serve thee six years; then in the
seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
15:13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt
not let him depart empty:
15:14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out
of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: [of that] with which
the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give to him.
15:15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in the
land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I
command thee this thing this day.
15:16 And it shall be, if he shall say to thee, I will not leave
thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well
with thee;
15:17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust [it] through his
ear into the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And
also to thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.
15:18 It shall not seem hard to thee, when thou sendest him away
free from thee; for he hath been of double the worth of a hired
servant [to thee], in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy
God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
15:19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy
flock thou shalt sanctify to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no
work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling
of thy sheep.
15:20 Thou shalt eat [it] before the LORD thy God year by year
in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy
household.
15:21 And if there is [any] blemish in it, [as if it is] lame,
or blind, [or hath] any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice
it to the LORD thy God.
15:22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the
clean [person shall eat it] alike, as the roebuck, and as the
hart.
15:23 Only thou shalt not eat its blood; thou shalt pour it upon
the ground as water.
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