| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. | 1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. |
| 2And 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. | 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. |
| 3Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. | 3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you." |
| 4But 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— | 4There 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-- |
| 5if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command 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. |
| 6For 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. | 6When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you." |
| 7“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, | 7If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. |
| 8but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. | 8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. |
| 9Take 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. | 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. |
| 10You 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. | 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. |
| 11For 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.’ | 11For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, 'You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.'" |
| 12“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. | 12If 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. |
| 13And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. | 13When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. |
| 14You 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. | 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. |
| 15You 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. | 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. |
| 16But 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, | 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, |
| 17then 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. | 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. |
| 18It 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. | 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 hand. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do." |
| 19“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. | 19You must 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. |
| 20You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose. | 20Each year you and your family are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD chooses. |
| 21But 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. | 21But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. |
| 22You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. | 22Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer. |
| 23Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. | 23But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water." |
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