The Father's Year of Release
15 1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. 2 And this is how the release is to be done: every creditor must release what he has lent to his neighbor. He must not demand payment from his neighbor or his brother, because your Father has proclaimed a release. 1 1 v2 Every seventh year, debts owed between fellow Israelites were forgiven — a regular reset that kept poverty from hardening into permanent ruin. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must release your brother from whatever he owes you.
4 Yet there need be no poor among you, for your Father will surely bless you in the land your Father is giving you as an inheritance to possess — 5 if only you listen carefully to the voice of your Father, being careful to do all this commandment that I am giving you today. 6 For your Father will bless you as he promised you. You will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.
Open Your Hand to the Poor
7 If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in the land your Father is giving you, do not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. 8 Rather, open your hand wide to him and freely lend him enough for whatever he needs.
9 Be careful that no wicked thought is in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is near,' so that you look grudgingly on your poor brother and give him nothing. Then he will cry out to your Father against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
10 Give to him generously, and do not let your heart be grieved when you give to him, because for this your Father will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 For the poor will never cease from the land. Therefore I command you: open your hand wide to your brother, to the needy and the poor in your land.
Freeing Hebrew Servants
12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall set him free.
13 And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 Furnish him generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Give to him as your Father has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and your Father redeemed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.
16 But if he says to you, 'I will not leave you,' because he loves you and your household and is doing well with you, 17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant for life. And do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set him free, for his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired worker. And your Father will bless you in everything you do.
Firstborn Animals Set Apart
19 Set apart for your Father every firstborn male born in your herds and flocks. You shall not put the firstborn of your herd to work, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 Each year you and your household shall eat it before your Father in the place your Father will choose.
21 But if it has any defect — if it is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw — you must not sacrifice it to your Father. 22 Eat it within your own towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as they would a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you must not eat its blood; pour it out on the ground like water.