Chapter 15
Goodwill to the Poor.[a] 1 At the end of every seven years you are to cancel debts. 2 This is how you are to do it. Everyone who has made a loan to his neighbor will forgive the debt. He will not require payment from his neighbor nor his brother, for the Lord’s pardon of debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must forgive the debt that your brother owes. 4 There should be no poor among you, for the Lord will greatly bless you in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess as an inheritance, 5 but only if you carefully heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and observe all of the commandments that I give you today. 6 The Lord, your God, will bless you as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none. You shall rule over many nations, but none shall rule over you.
7 If there is a poor man among you in the towns of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you, do not harden your heart nor be stingy with your poor brother. 8 Be generous with him, lending him what he needs, whatever it is he needs. 9 Be careful not to harbor the evil thought in your mind, “The seventh year, the time for canceling debts, is near.” Do not show bad will toward your poor brother and end up giving him nothing. He might appeal to the Lord, and it would be your sin. 10 You must give to him, and you should not have a grudging heart when you give to him. The Lord, your God, will bless you in all the endeavors that you undertake because of what you have given. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you, “Be generous to your poor brother and the needy in your land.”
12 Freeing Slaves. If a fellow Hebrew man or woman sells himself to you and serves for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set him free.[b] 13 When you release him, you are not to send him away empty-handed. 14 Provide him generously from your flock, your threshing floor, your winepress. Give to him in the same way that the Lord, your God, has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you. Therefore, I give you this command today.
16 But if your slave says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door. He will then be your slave forever. You are to do the same with your maidservants as well. 18 Do not consider it to be a hardship to set your slave free. You received twice as much from him in the six years as you would have from a hired hand, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in all of your undertakings.
19 The Firstborn. Set apart for the Lord, your God, the firstborn male from your herds and your flocks. Do not set the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them before the Lord, your God, in the place that the Lord has chosen. 21 If an animal has any blemish, or is lame, or blind, or has any serious flaw, you are not to sacrifice it to the Lord, your God. 22 You can eat it within your own towns.[c] The clean and the unclean can eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a roebuck. 23 But you must not consume its blood, you are to pour it out on the ground as if it were water.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 15:1 Note that God regards as done to himself what is done, be it good or evil, to the poor, and that this principle is frequently applied in Deuteronomy (14:29; 24:15) and throughout the Bible (1 Jn 4:17-21) and will be set in a new perspective by Jesus (Mt 25:35-45).
- Deuteronomy 15:12 Women here have the same right as men; this marks progress over Ex 21:1-6.
- Deuteronomy 15:22 Within your own towns: because this is not a cultic meal.