Deuteronomy 15 Parallel Bible Translations

Deuteronomy 15 ▼
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1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts. “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, for it is to be recognized as |the LORD's cancellation of debts.| And 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. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.
4 However, there should not be any poor among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that he is giving you as an inheritance, But 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— However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
5 if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today. if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
6 For the LORD your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you. For 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. For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
7 If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land that the LORD your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive to his impoverished condition. “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, If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.
8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs. but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the LORD against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. Take 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. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.
10 You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. You 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. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land. For 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.’ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
12 If your fellow Hebrew--whether male or female--is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free. “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. If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.
13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed.
14 You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress--as the LORD your God has blessed you, you must give to them. You 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. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today. 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. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
16 However, if the servant says to you, |I do not want to leave you,| because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, But 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, But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,
17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). then 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. then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. It 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. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
19 You must set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. “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. Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
20 You and your household must eat them annually before the LORD your God in the place he chooses. You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose. Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose.
21 If they have any kind of blemish--lameness, blindness, or anything else--you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the LORD your God. But 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. If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.
23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water. Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
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