| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. | 1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. |
| 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. | 2This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. |
| 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. | 3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. |
| 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. | 4There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, |
| 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. | 5if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. |
| 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. | 6When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none. |
| 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. | 7If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. |
| 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. | 8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. |
| 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. | 9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. |
| 10Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. | 10Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. |
| 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 | 11For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land. |
| 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. | 12If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. |
| 13“When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. | 13And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. |
| 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. | 14You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. |
| 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. | 15Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. |
| 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. | 16But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you, |
| 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. | 17then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way. |
| 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 | 18Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. |
| 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. | 19You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock. |
| 20Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at the place he chooses. | 20Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose. |
| 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. | 21But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. |
| 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. | 22Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer. |
| 23But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. | 23But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. |
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