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The Sabbatic Year

¹ "^(C1)At the end of every seven years you shall ^(F1)grant a remission of debts.² "This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed.³ "^(C1)From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.⁴ "However, there will be no poor among you, since ^(C1)the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,⁵ if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.⁶ "^(C1)For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ "If there is ^(C1)a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your ^(F1)towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, ^(C2)you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;⁸ but ^(C1)you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.⁹ "Beware that there is no base ^(F1)thought in your heart, saying, '^(C1)The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,' and ^(C2)your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he ^(C3)may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.¹⁰ "You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(C1)for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all ^(F1)your undertakings.¹¹ "^(C1)For the poor will never cease to be ^(F1)in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'

¹² "^(C1)If your ^(F1)kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him ^(F2)free.¹³ "When you set him ^(F1)free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.¹⁴ "You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.¹⁵ "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you ^(F1)this today.¹⁶ "It shall come about ^(C1)if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you;¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

¹⁸ "It shall not seem hard to you when you set him ^(F1)free, for he has given you six years with ^(F2)double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.

¹⁹ "^(C1)You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.²⁰ "^(C1)You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses.²¹ "^(C1)But if it has any ^(F1)defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious ^(F1)defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.²² "You shall eat it within your gates; ^(C1)the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as ^(C1)a gazelle or a deer.²³ "Only ^(C1)you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.