Deuteronomy 15

Wycliffe Bible

15 In the seventh year thou shalt make (a) remission, (In the seventh year thou shalt make a forgiveness of debts,)

² that shall be fulfilled by this order. To whom anything is owed, of his friend, either neighbour, and brother, he shall not be able to ask (for) it, for it is the year of remission, or forgiveness, of the Lord. (that shall be fulfilled in this way. To whom anything is owed, to his friend, or his neighbour, or his brother, he shall not be able to ask for it, for it is the Year of Remission, or the Year of Forgiveness, of the Lord.)

³ Thou shalt ask it of a pilgrim, that is, a stranger, or he that is not of the faith of (the) Jews, and of a comeling; thou hast no power to ask (for) it of a citizen and of a neighbour; (Thou shalt ask for it from a foreigner, that is, from a stranger, or from he who is not of the faith of the Jews, and a newcomer; but thou hast no power to ask for it from a citizen, or from a neighbour.)

⁴ and utterly a needy man and a beggar shall not be among you, that thy Lord God bless thee, in the land which he shall give to thee into possession. (And there shall never be a needy person, or a beggar, among you, and then the Lord thy God shall bless thee, in the land which he shall give to thee for a possession,)

⁵ If nevertheless thou shalt hear the voice of thy Lord God, and shalt keep all things which he commanded, and which I command today to thee, (if only thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and shalt obey all the things which he commanded, and which I command to thee today,)

⁶ he shall bless thee, as he promised. Thou shalt lend to many folks, and thou shalt not take borrowing of any man; thou shalt be lord of full many nations, and no man shall be lord of thee. (yea, then he shall bless thee, as he promised. Thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow from anyone; thou shalt be lord of a great many nations, but no one shall be thy lord.)

⁷ If one of thy brethren that dwell within the gates of thy city, in the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, cometh to poverty, thou shalt not make hard thine heart, neither thou shalt withdraw thine hand (from him),

⁸ but thou shalt open it to the poor man, and thou shalt lend him whatso(ever) thou seest him have need to. (but thou shalt open it to the poor, and thou shalt lend to them whatever thou seest that they have need of.)

⁹ Be thou ware lest peradventure [a] wicked thought creep (in) privily to thee, and thou say in thine heart, The seventh year of remission, (or of forgiveness,) nigheth; and thou turn away thine eyes from thy poor brother, and thou wilt not give to him the loan that he asketh (for); lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be made to thee into sin (lest he cry to the Lord against thee, and thou be judged to be guilty of sin).

¹⁰ But thou shalt give to him, and thou shalt not do anything falsely in relieving his needs, that thy Lord God bless thee in all time, and in all things to which thou shalt put to thine hand. (But thou shalt give to him, and thou shalt not do anything falsely when relieving his need, so that the Lord thy God shall bless thee for all time, and in all the things to which thou shalt put thy hand.)

¹¹ Poor men shall not fail (to be) in the land of thy dwelling; therefore I command to thee, that thou open thy hand to thy brother needy (and) poor, that live with thee in the land. (There shall always be poor people in the land of thy dwelling; and so I command thee, that thou open thy hands to thy brothers and sisters who be needy and poor, who live with thee in the land.)

¹² When thy brother, an Hebrew man, either an Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt deliver him free (in the seventh year thou shalt set them free).

¹³ And thou shalt not suffer him (to) go away from thee void, to whom thou hast given freedom; (And when thou shalt set them free, thou shalt not allow them to go away empty-handed from thee;)

¹⁴ but thou shalt give him lifelode in the way, of thy flocks, and of thy cornfloor, and of thy presser, in which thy Lord God hath blessed thee. (but thou shalt give them sustenance for the way, out of thy flocks, and from thy threshing floor, and thy winepress, yea, out of all in which the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.)

¹⁵ Have thou mind that also thou servedest in the land of Egypt, and thy Lord God delivered thee, and therefore I command now (this) to thee. (Remember that thou were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God set thee free, and so now I command this to thee.)

¹⁶ But if he say, I will not go out, for he loveth thee, and thine house(hold), and he feeleth that it is well to him with thee, (But if thy slave saith, I will not leave thee, for I love thee, and thy family, and he feeleth that it is good for him to be with thee,)

¹⁷ thou shalt take an awl, and thou shalt pierce (it through) his ear in(to) the door of thine house, and (then) he shall serve thee till into the world; also thou shalt do in like manner to an handmaid (and thou shalt treat a slave-girl in the same manner).

¹⁸ Thou shalt not turn away from them thine eyes, when thou shalt deliver them free, for by the hire of an hired man they served thee by six years; that thy Lord God bless thee, in all the works which thou doest. (Thou shalt not turn away thine eyes from them, when thou shalt set them free, for they have served thee for six years at half the cost, or at half the wages, of a hired servant; and then the Lord thy God shall bless thee, in all the works which thou doest.)

¹⁹ Of the first engendered things that be born in thy droves, and in thy sheep, whatever is of male kind, thou shalt hallow to thy Lord God (Of the first-born of thy herds, and of thy sheep, whatever is male, thou shalt dedicate to the Lord thy God). Thou shalt not work with the first engendered thing of oxen, and thou shalt not shear the first engendered things of sheep.

²⁰ Thou shalt eat those by all years in the sight of thy Lord God, thou, and thine house, in the place which the Lord choose. (Rather, year after year, thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy household, or thy family, in the place which the Lord shall choose.)

²¹ And if it have a wem (But if it hath a blemish, or a fault), either is crooked, either (is) blind, either is foul, either (is) feeble in any part, it shall not be offered to thy Lord God;

²² but thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city, both a clean man and an unclean (man) shall eat of those in like manner, as of a capret, and of an hart. (but thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city, both a clean person and an unclean person shall eat it, like they would a gazelle, or a deer.)

²³ Only thou shalt keep this, that thou eat not the blood of those, but shed it out as water into the earth. (But thou shalt not eat any of their blood, but thou shalt pour it out like water onto the ground.)