Deuteronomy 15 Parallel Bible Translations

Deuteronomy 15 ▼
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1 “At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. “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 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. 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 This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. 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 “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. 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 You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God 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 The 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. 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 “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. “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, be generous and lend them whatever they need. 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 Do 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. 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 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. 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 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. 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 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. “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 “When you release a male servant, do not send him 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 Give 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. 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 once slaves in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command. 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 “But suppose your servant says, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and he has done well 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 In 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. 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 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. 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 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. “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 Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at 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 But 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. 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 Instead, 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. 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 But you must not consume the 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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