Deuteronomy 15

₁Moses said: ‘At the end of each 7 years you must tell the people that they must forget all their debts. People can keep the money that they owe you, and they do not have to pay you. ₂This means that everyone who has lent money to someone else may not ask him to pay back the money. They may not tell another Israelite to pay his debt, because it was God who decided that people must forget all their debts every 7th year. ₃People who are not Israelites must pay back their debts, but you must tell all the Israelites to keep the money that they have borrowed. They do not have to pay back the money that they owe you. ₄Then the Lord your God will bless you in the land that He gives you to take for yourselves and that is why there will be no poor people among you, this is sure. ₅But then you must listen to the Lord your God and obey everything He says. You must do everything that these laws that I am giving you today say. ₆When the Lord your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will be able to lend money to the people of many nations, but you will not have to borrow money from other people. You will have enough. You will rule over a lot of nations and they will not rule you. ₇In the towns of the land that the Lord your God gives you, there will be some of your own people who are poor. You must help them. Don't be hard on them. Your hands must not be closed for poor people near you. You must give them something. ₈You must be good to them and willing to lend them everything that they need. ₉Be friendly to the people near you. Lend them what they need, even if it is near the 7th year, the year when you must tell people who owe you money to keep it. If you do not want to help them then, you are doing wrong and they will ask the Lord to help them and you will be guilty because you have done wrong. ₁₀You must be willing to give and you must not be unhappy when you give, because if you give, the Lord your God will be with you and all will be well with you. ₁₁There will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am telling you to be willing to give to people who can not help themselves, and to the poor people in the land.’

₁₂Moses said: ‘If an Israelite, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you to be your slave and he has worked for you for 6 years, then you have to let him go free in the 7th year. ₁₃And when you let him go free, you must give him something when he leaves you. ₁₄You must give him enough of your sheep and goats and some of your wheat and wine. You must give him some of the things that you have because the Lord your God has blessed you. ₁₅You must remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God paid to free you. That is why I am telling you this today.

₁₆But if your slave tells you that he does not want to go away from you because he loves you and your family and he wants to live with you, ₁₇then you must take a sharp iron and make a hole in his ear. He will then always be your slave. You must do the same if your slave girl wants to stay with you.

₁₈If your slave wants to go free and leave you after 6 years, you must not feel sad or angry, because if you had not had him to work for you, you would have had to hire twice as many other workers for 6 years. If you do what the Lord your God tells you to do, then He will be with you in everything you do.’

₁₉‘You must consecrate each firstborn bull-calf and ram-lamb that you get to the Lord your God. You may not make a firstborn bull-calf work and you may not shear the wool of a firstborn ram-lamb. ₂₀Every year, you and your family must go and eat the first calf and the first lamb at the place that the Lord chooses. ₂₁But if there is something wrong with the calf or lamb, if it is crippled or blind, then you may not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ₂₂You may eat the meat of an animal like that, where you live. Pure and impure people may eat it like they eat the meat of a gazelle or a deer. ₂₃But you may not eat the blood of any animal. And you must pour the blood out onto the ground like when you pour out water.’