| New Living Translation | NET 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 declare a cancellation of 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 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." |
| 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you. | 3You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit. |
| 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. | 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, |
| 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 you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that 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. | 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“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 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. |
| 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. | 8Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend 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 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. |
| 10Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. | 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. |
| 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 | 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 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 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. |
| 13“When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. | 13If you set them free, you must not send them 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 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. |
| 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 a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing 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. | 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, |
| 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. | 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). |
| 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 | 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“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 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. |
| 20Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at the place he chooses. | 20You and your household must eat them annually before the LORD your God in the place he chooses. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 22You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. |
| 23But you must not consume the blood. You must 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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