| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. | 1“At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. |
| 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 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. |
| 3Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. | 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. |
| 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— | 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. |
| 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. | 5You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God 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. | 6The 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. |
| 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, | 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. |
| 8but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. | 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. |
| 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. | 9Do 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. |
| 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. | 10Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. |
| 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 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. Release for Hebrew Slaves |
| 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. | 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. |
| 13And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. | 13“When you release a male servant, do not send him 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. | 14Give 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. |
| 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 once slaves in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command. |
| 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, | 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. |
| 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. | 17In 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. |
| 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. | 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. Sacrificing Firstborn Male Animals |
| 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. | 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. |
| 20You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose. | 20Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at 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. | 21But 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. |
| 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. | 22Instead, 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. |
| 23Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. | 23But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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