Deuteronomy 15

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

1At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "release" (shemittah) means a letting go or letting drop. It was a fixed nationwide year on a shared calendar, every seventh year everyone observed at once, not seven years counted separately from the date of each loan. Ancient and modern readers have differed over whether the creditor's "letting go" wiped out the debt permanently or only suspended collection for that year; the Hebrew wording does not settle it.

2This is how the canceling works. Every person who has made a loan to his neighbor must let that loan go. He must not demand payment from his neighbor or his brother, because the LORD's release has been announced.

2And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release.

Note"Ought" in the King James English simply means "anything." "Brother" here, and throughout the chapter, means a fellow Israelite rather than a blood relative. That the release "is called" or "has been proclaimed" points to a public announcement, so that debtors and creditors alike knew the year had come.

3You may still collect from a foreigner, but you must let go of whatever your brother owes you.

3Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

NoteThe foreigner meant here is a non-Israelite trader or traveler doing business in the land, not the resident immigrant living permanently among Israel, who was covered by the same protections as Israelites. A loan to a passing merchant was commercial capital, not emergency help for a neighbor in trouble.

4Yet there should be no poor person among you, because the LORD will greatly bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you to own as your inheritance.

4Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:

Note"Inheritance" translates a word for an allotted holding: land assigned to each family and meant to stay in that family's hands down the generations, rather than property freely bought and sold.

5This holds only if you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and are careful to obey all these commands I am giving you today.

5Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

6For the LORD your God will bless you, just as he promised you. You will lend to many nations but borrow from none. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

6For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

NoteTo lend to other nations without borrowing was a standard ancient way of describing national strength, a country that is everyone's creditor and nobody's debtor.

7If there is a poor man among your brothers, in any of your towns in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not harden your heart or close your hand against your poor brother.

7If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

NoteThe King James "gates" means towns. The gateway of a walled town was where markets were held and legal cases were heard, so "your gates" stood for the settlements themselves.

8Instead, open your hand wide to him. Lend him enough for what he needs, whatever it is he lacks.

8But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

Note"That which he wanteth" in the King James English means what he lacks, not what he desires. Under Israelite law, loans to a poor fellow Israelite were to be made without charging interest.

9Be careful that this wicked thought never enters your heart: 'The seventh year, the year debts are canceled, is near.' Do not look at your poor brother with a grudging eye and give him nothing. If you do, he will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

9Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

Note"Thine eye be evil" is a Hebrew idiom for being tight-fisted or begrudging; a "good eye" meant generosity. "It be sin unto thee" means you incur guilt, the wronged person's cry becomes a formal complaint against you.

10Give to him freely, and do not let your heart be sad when you give to him. Because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you set your hand to.

10Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

11There will always be poor people in the land. That is why I command you to open your hand wide to your brother, and to the poor and needy in your land.

11For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

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 let that person go free.

12And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

NoteThis is debt-bondage, not lifelong slavery. An Israelite who could not pay what he owed, or could not feed his family, sold his labor (or was sold) for a fixed term of six years to work the debt off. The law here treats such a person as a fellow Israelite with a release date, unlike foreign slaves bought as property.

13And when you send him away free, do not send him away empty-handed.

13And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

14Give to him generously from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. Give to him out of what the LORD your God has blessed you with.

14Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

NoteThe three sources named cover the basic wealth of a farming household: the flock (animals, meat and wool), the threshing floor (grain, the flat open area where grain was beaten loose from the stalks), and the winepress (wine). The freed servant leaves with a share of each.

15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God rescued you and set you free. That is why I am giving you this command today.

15And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

Note"Redeemed" translates a word from family and commercial law: to pay the price that buys a relative out of slavery or debt. A family member had a duty to do this for his kin, and the word is applied here to the exodus from Egypt.

16But suppose he says to you, 'I do not want to leave you.' He says this because he loves you and your household, and because he is doing well with you.

16And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;

17Then take an awl and push it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.

17Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

NoteAn awl is a sharp pointed tool used for punching holes in leather or wood. The piercing was done at the door or doorpost of the master's house, a public, witnessed act marking the servant's permanent attachment to that household, and leaving a visible mark in the ear. "For ever" here means for the rest of his life.

18Do not think it is hard on you to set him free, because his six years of service were worth twice the pay of a hired worker. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

18It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

NoteThe Hebrew is ambiguous. It may mean the servant's labor was worth twice what a hired worker's wages would have cost, or that he served twice the usual term of a hired man, whose contracts commonly ran about three years.

19Set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. Do not put a firstborn ox to work, and do not shear a firstborn sheep.

19All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

Note"Firstling" means firstborn; "sanctify" means to set apart as belonging to God rather than to the owner. Not working the ox and not shearing the sheep means the owner takes no profit from the animal before handing it over.

20You and your household are to eat it each year in the presence of the LORD your God, in the place the LORD will choose.

20Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.

Note"The place the LORD will choose" is a recurring phrase in Deuteronomy for a single central sanctuary where offerings were to be brought; the text here does not name the site. "Household" covers the whole domestic group, including servants.

21But if the animal has a flaw, if it is lame or blind or has any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

21And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.

NoteAn animal brought as an offering had to be physically sound. A lame, blind, or otherwise defective animal was disqualified, so this firstborn was handled differently, as ordinary food, described in the next verse.

22Eat it in your own towns. The person who is unclean and the person who is clean may both eat it, just as they would eat a gazelle or a deer.

22Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.

Note"Unclean" and "clean" describe ritual status, not dirt or morality. A person became unclean temporarily through ordinary events such as touching a corpse or childbirth, and could not approach the sanctuary until the condition passed, but could eat ordinary meat at home. The gazelle and the deer are wild game, which was never offered in sacrifice and so could be eaten anywhere by anyone.

23But you must not eat its blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water.

23Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

NoteDraining the blood was a standing rule for all meat eaten in Israel; blood was spoken of as the life of the creature and was returned to the ground. "Like water" means poured out on the spot with no ritual attached, unlike the blood of an animal offered at the sanctuary.