| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. | 1At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts. |
| 2And 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. | 2This 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." |
| 3Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. | 3You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit. |
| 4But 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— | 4However, 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, |
| 5if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. | 5if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today. |
| 6For 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. | 6For 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. |
| 7“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, | 7If 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. |
| 8but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. | 8Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs. |
| 9Take 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. | 9Be 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. |
| 10You 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. | 10You 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. |
| 11For 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.’ | 11There 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. |
| 12“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. | 12If 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. |
| 13And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. | 13If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. |
| 14You 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. | 14You 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. |
| 15You 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. | 15Remember 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. |
| 16But 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, | 16However, 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, |
| 17then 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. | 17you 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). |
| 18It 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. | 18You 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. |
| 19“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. | 19You 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. |
| 20You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose. | 20You and your household must eat them annually before the LORD your God in the place he chooses. |
| 21But 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. | 21If they have any kind of blemish--lameness, blindness, or anything else--you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the LORD your God. |
| 22You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. | 22You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. |
| 23Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. | 23However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water. |
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