Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

Deuteronomy 15
New English Translation

The Year of Debt Release

15 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts.[a] 2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person;[b] he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite,[c] for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.” 3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite[d] owes you, you must remit. 4 However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord[e] will surely bless[f] you in the land that he[g] is giving you as an inheritance,[h] 5 if you carefully obey[i] him[j] by keeping[k] all these commandments that I am giving[l] you today. 6 For 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.

The Spirit of Liberality

7 If a fellow Israelite[m] from one of your villages[n] in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive[o] to his impoverished condition.[p] 8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend[q] him whatever he needs.[r] 9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude[s] be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite[t] and you do not lend[u] him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be regarded as having sinned.[v] 10 You must by all means lend[w] to him and not be upset by doing it,[x] for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open[y] your hand to your fellow Israelites[z] who are needy and poor in your land.

Release of Debt Slaves

12 If your fellow Hebrew[aa]—whether male or female[ab]—is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant[ac] go free.[ad] 13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 14 You must supply them generously[ae] from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress—as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15 Remember 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 However, if the servant[af] says to you, “I do not want to leave[ag] you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door.[ah] Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). 18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice[ai] the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Giving God the Best

19 You must set apart[aj] 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. 20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he[ak] chooses. 21 If one of them has any kind of blemish—lameness, blindness, or anything else[al]—you may not offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it in your villages,[am] whether you are ritually impure or clean,[an] just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 15:1 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטִּת (shemittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”
  2. Deuteronomy 15:2 tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.
  3. Deuteronomy 15:2 tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”
  4. Deuteronomy 15:3 tn Heb “your brother.”
  5. Deuteronomy 15:4 tc After the phrase “the Lord” many mss and versions add “your God” to complete the usual full epithet.
  6. Deuteronomy 15:4 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “surely.” Note however, that the use is rhetorical, for the next verse attaches a condition.
  7. Deuteronomy 15:4 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  8. Deuteronomy 15:4 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess.”
  9. Deuteronomy 15:5 tn Heb “if listening you listen to the voice of.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “carefully.” The idiom “listen to the voice” means “obey.”
  10. Deuteronomy 15:5 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 15:4.
  11. Deuteronomy 15:5 tn Heb “by being careful to do.”
  12. Deuteronomy 15:5 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB); NAB “which I enjoin you today.”
  13. Deuteronomy 15:7 tn Heb “one of your brothers” (so NASB); NAB “one of your kinsmen”; NRSV “a member of your community.” See the note at v. 2.
  14. Deuteronomy 15:7 tn Heb “gates.”
  15. Deuteronomy 15:7 tn Heb “withdraw your hand.” Cf. NIV “hardhearted or tightfisted” (NRSV and NLT similar).
  16. Deuteronomy 15:7 tn Heb “from your needy brother.”
  17. Deuteronomy 15:8 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before both verbs. The translation indicates the emphasis with the words “be sure to” and “generously,” respectively.
  18. Deuteronomy 15:8 tn Heb “whatever his need that he needs for himself.” This redundant expression has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  19. Deuteronomy 15:9 tn Heb “your eye.”
  20. Deuteronomy 15:9 tn Heb “your needy brother.”
  21. Deuteronomy 15:9 tn Heb “give” (likewise in v. 10).
  22. Deuteronomy 15:9 tn Heb “it will be a sin to you.”
  23. Deuteronomy 15:10 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “by all means.”
  24. Deuteronomy 15:10 tc Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.” The LXX and Orig add, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.
  25. Deuteronomy 15:11 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”
  26. Deuteronomy 15:11 tn Heb “your brother.”
  27. Deuteronomy 15:12 sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ʿivri) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ʾapiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.
  28. Deuteronomy 15:12 tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”
  29. Deuteronomy 15:12 tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.
  30. Deuteronomy 15:12 tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”
  31. Deuteronomy 15:14 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “generously.”
  32. Deuteronomy 15:16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the indentured servant introduced in v. 12) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  33. Deuteronomy 15:16 tn Heb “go out from.” The imperfect verbal form indicates the desire of the subject here.
  34. Deuteronomy 15:17 sn When the bondslave’s ear was drilled through to the door, the door in question was that of the master’s house. In effect, the bondslave is declaring his undying and lifelong loyalty to his creditor. The scar (or even hole) in the earlobe would testify to the community that the slave had surrendered independence and personal rights. This may be what Paul had in mind when he said “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
  35. Deuteronomy 15:18 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh, “twice”) could mean “equivalent to” (cf. NRSV) or, more likely, “double” (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). The idea is that a hired worker would put in only so many hours per day whereas a bondslave was available around the clock.
  36. Deuteronomy 15:19 tn Heb “sanctify” (תַּקְדִּישׁ, taqdish), that is, put to use on behalf of the Lord.
  37. Deuteronomy 15:20 tn Heb “the Lord.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons. See note on “he” in 15:4.
  38. Deuteronomy 15:21 tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”
  39. Deuteronomy 15:22 tn Heb “in your gates.”
  40. Deuteronomy 15:22 tc The LXX adds ἐν σοί (en soi, “among you”) to make clear that the antecedent is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.
Close CEB

Deuteronomy 15
Common English Bible

Year of canceled debts

15 Every seventh year you must cancel all debts. 2 This is how the cancellation is to be handled: Creditors will forgive the loans of their fellow Israelites. They won’t demand repayment from their neighbors or their relatives because the Lord’s year of debt cancellation has been announced. 3 You are allowed to demand payment from foreigners, but whatever is owed you from your fellow Israelites you must forgive. 4 Of course there won’t be any poor persons among you because the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, 5 but only if you carefully obey the Lord your God’s voice, by carefully doing every bit of this commandment that I’m giving you right now. 6 Once the Lord your God has blessed you, exactly as he said he would, you will end up lending to many different peoples but won’t need to borrow a thing. You will dominate many different peoples, but they won’t dominate you.

7 Now if there are some poor persons among you, say one of your fellow Israelites in one of your cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, don’t be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward your poor fellow Israelites. 8 To the contrary! Open your hand wide to them. You must generously lend them whatever they need. 9 But watch yourself! Make sure no wicked thought crosses your mind, such as, The seventh year is coming—the year of debt cancellation—so that you resent your poor fellow Israelites and don’t give them anything. If you do that, they will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 10 No, give generously to needy persons. Don’t resent giving to them because it is this very thing that will lead to the Lord your God’s blessing you in all you do and work at. 11 Poor persons will never disappear from the earth. That’s why I’m giving you this command: you must open your hand generously to your fellow Israelites, to the needy among you, and to the poor who live with you in your land.

12 If any of your fellow Hebrews, male or female, sell themselves into your service, they can work for you for six years, but in the seventh year you must set them free from your service. 13 Furthermore, when you set them free from your service, you must not let them go empty-handed. 14 Instead, provide for them fully from your flock, food, and wine. You must give to them from that with which the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember how each of you was a slave in Egypt and how the Lord your God saved you. That’s why I am commanding you to do this right now. (16 Now if your male servant says to you: “I don’t want to leave your service” because he loves you and your family and because life is good for him in your service, 17 then you may take a needle and pierce his ear with it into the doorframe. From that point on, he will be your permanent servant. Do the same thing for female servants.) 18 Don’t consider it a hardship to set these servants free from your service, because they worked for you for six years—at a value double that of a paid worker. The Lord your God will bless you in everything that you do.

19 You must devote every oldest male animal from your herds or flocks to the Lord your God. Don’t plow with your oldest male ox and don’t shear your oldest male sheep. 20 Year after year, you and your family are allowed to eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God, in the location the Lord selects. 21 But if there is any defect in it, lameness, blindness, any flaw whatsoever, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You are allowed to eat those in your own cities, whether you are polluted or purified, just as you would eat gazelle or deer. 23 Even so, don’t consume any blood. Pour it out on the ground, like water.

Next
Deuteronomy 14
Deuteronomy 16
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible