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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Deuteronomy 15:13

And don't just tell them they are free to leave—

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beneficence;   Fraternity;   Liberality;   Poor;   Sabbatic Year;   Thompson Chain Reference - Benevolence;   Liberality-Parsimony;   Social Duties;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Liberality;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Servant;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Sabbatical year;   Slave;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Slave, Slavery;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Debtor;   Freedom;   Poor;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Law;   Loan;   Poor;   Slave;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Economic Life;   Freedom;   Loan;   Slave/servant;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crimes and Punishments;   Debt;   Deuteronomy;   Leviticus;   Poverty;   Sabbatical Year;   Slave, Slavery;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Law in the Old Testament;   Oded;   Poverty;   Sabbatical Year;   Slave;   Son;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Agrarian Laws;   Commandments, the 613;   Slaves and Slavery;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed.
Hebrew Names Version
When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:
King James Version
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Lexham English Bible
And when you send him out free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed.
English Standard Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
New Century Version
When you let slaves go, don't send them away without anything.
New English Translation
If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.
Amplified Bible
"When you set him free, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.
New American Standard Bible
"And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him goe away emptie,
Legacy Standard Bible
When you let him go to be free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
Complete Jewish Bible
Moreover, when you set him free, don't let him leave empty-handed;
Darby Translation
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty;
Easy-to-Read Version
But when you let your slave go free, don't send him away with nothing.
George Lamsa Translation
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;
Good News Translation
When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.
Literal Translation
And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And wha thou deliuerest him fre, thou shalt not let him go from the emptye,
American Standard Version
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:
Bible in Basic English
And when you make him free, do not let him go away with nothing in his hands:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when thou sendest hym out free from thee, thou shalt not let hym go away emptie:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty;
King James Version (1611)
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away emptie:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And when thou shalt send him out free from thee, thou shalt not send him out empty.
English Revised Version
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:
Berean Standard Bible
And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thou schalt not suffre hym go awey voide, to whom thou hast yyue fredom;
Young's Literal Translation
And when thou dost send him away free from thee, thou dost not send him away empty;
Update Bible Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:
Webster's Bible Translation
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him depart empty:
World English Bible
When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:
New King James Version
And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;
New Living Translation
"When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed.
New Life Bible
When you set him free, do not send him away with nothing.
New Revised Standard
And when you send a male slave out from you a free person, you shall not send him out empty-handed.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and when thou lettest him go out free, from thee, thou shalt not let him go out empty:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Revised Standard Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

Contextual Overview

12 Moses said to Israel: If any of you buy Israelites as slaves, you must set them free after six years. 13 And don't just tell them they are free to leave— 14 give them sheep and goats and a good supply of grain and wine. The more the Lord has given you, the more you should give them. 15 I am commanding you to obey the Lord as a reminder that you were slaves in Egypt before he set you free. 16 But one of your slaves may say, "I love you and your family, and I would be better off staying with you, so please don't make me leave." 17 Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women. 18 Don't complain when you have to set a slave free. After all, you got six years of service at half the cost of hiring someone to do the work.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

This is a most humane and merciful addition to the law in Exodus 21:2-11, enforced upon the Israelites by the consideration of their Egyptian bondage. As a faithful servant has made no property for himself while honestly serving his master, so now, when he quits his service, he has nothing to begin the world with except what the kindness of his master may bestow upon him as a remuneration for his zeal and fidelity. Though what was to be bestowed upon servants is not fixed, yet they were to be liberally supplied - Deuteronomy 15:14. Genesis 31:42, Exodus 3:21, Leviticus 25:42-44, Proverbs 3:27, Proverbs 3:28, Jeremiah 22:13, Malachi 3:5, Colossians 4:1

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, "Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly."
Genesis 15:2
But Abram answered, " Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own.
Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the Lord , and the Lord was pleased with him.
Genesis 15:7
The Lord said to Abram, "I brought you here from Ur in Chaldea, and I gave you this land."
Genesis 15:8
Abram asked, " Lord God, how can I know the land will be mine?"
Genesis 15:11
And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.
Genesis 15:12
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and everything became dark and frightening.
Genesis 15:13
Then the Lord said: Abram, you will live to an old age and die in peace. But I solemnly promise that your descendants will live as foreigners in a land that doesn't belong to them. They will be forced into slavery and abused for four hundred years. But I will terribly punish the nation that enslaves them, and they will leave with many possessions.
Genesis 17:8
I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.
Exodus 1:11
The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses, where the king could store his supplies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when thou sendest him out free from thee,.... When he discharged him from his servitude, and made him a free man:

thou shall not let him go away empty; without anything to support himself, or to put himself in a way of business; he having in the time of his servitude worked entirely for his master, and so could not have got and saved anything for himself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 15:13. Thou shalt not let him go away empty — Because during the time he served thee, he made no property for himself, having been always honest towards thee; and now when he leaves thee, he has nothing to begin the world with.


 
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