Deuteronomy 15:13-23 ▼

13 When you let him go to be free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.

14 You shall furnish him generously from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as Yahweh your God has blessed you.

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

16 And it will be that, if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you;

17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

18 “It shall not seem hard in your sight when you let him go to be free from you, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so Yahweh your God will bless you in whatever you do.

19 “You shall set apart as holy to Yahweh your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 You and your household shall eat it every year before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh chooses.

21 But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God.

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

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