Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17

Tree of Life Version

Tithe and Remember the Levite

²² “You will surely set aside a tenth of all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. ²³ You are to eat the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, before Adonai your God in the place He chooses to make His Name dwell, so that you may learn to fear Adonai your God always. ²⁴ Now suppose the way is too long for you, for you cannot carry the tithe because the place Adonai your God chooses to set His Name is too far from you. When Adonai your God blesses you, ²⁵ then you are to exchange the tithe for silver, bind up the silver in your hand, and go to the place that Adonai your God chooses. ²⁶ You may spend the money for whatever your soul desires—cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever your soul asks of you. Then you will eat there before Adonai your God and rejoice—you and your household. ²⁷ But you are not to neglect the Levite within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. ²⁸ At the end of every three years, you are to bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year and store it within your gates. ²⁹ Then the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, along with the outsider, the orphan and the widow within your gates, will come and eat and be satisfied, so that Adonai your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.

Shmittah: Cancellation of Debts

15 “At the end of every seven years you are to cancel debts. ² This is how you are to cancel debts: every creditor is to release what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not force his neighbor or his brother to repay, for Adonai’s debt cancellation has been proclaimed. ³ A foreigner you may force, but your hand is to release whatever your brother owes you.

⁴ “However, there should be no poor among you, for Adonai will surely bless you in the land Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess. ⁵ If only you would carefully listen to the voice of Adonai your God, being careful to do all these mitzvah that I am commanding you today! ⁶ For Adonai your God will bless you as He promised you. So you will lend to many nations, but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ “If there is a poor man among you—any of your brothers within any of your gates in your land that Adonai your God is giving you—you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. ^{[a] 8} Rather, you must surely open your hand to him and you must surely lend him enough for his need—whatever he is lacking. ⁹ Watch yourself, so there is no unworthy thing in your heart saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of cancelling debts, is near,’ and your eye is evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing. Then he may call out to Adonai against you, and it will be a sin upon you. ¹⁰ You must surely give to him, and your heart is not to be grieved when you give to him—for because of this thing Adonai your God will bless you in all your work and in every undertaking of your hand.

¹¹ “For there will never cease to be poor people in the land. Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You must surely open your hand to your brother—to your needy and poor in your land.’

¹² “If your fellow Hebrew—a man or woman—is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you are to set him free. ¹³ When you set him free, you are not to send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ You are to surely provide for him from your flock and threshing floor and winepress. As Adonai your God has blessed you, you are to give to him. ¹⁵ You will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you this thing today.

¹⁶ “Now if he tells you, ‘I will not go away from you’—because he loves you and your household since he is well off with you— ¹⁷ then you are to take an awl and put it through his ear to the door, and he will be your servant forever. And to your female slave you are to do the same. ¹⁸ It should not seem hard to you when you set him free from you, for he has served you six years—double the value of a hired worker. So Adonai your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹ “All the firstborn males that are born in your herd and your flock you are to consecrate to Adonai your God. You are to do no work with the firstborn of your herd or shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰ You are to eat it before Adonai your God year after year in the place Adonai chooses—you and your household. ²¹ But if it has any blemish—if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish—you are not to sacrifice it to Adonai your God. ²² You are to eat it within your gates, the unclean and the clean together, just as they eat the gazelle or deer. ²³ Only its blood you are not to eat—you must pour it out on the ground like water.

Three Harvest Festivals

16 “Observe the month of Aviv and keep the Passover to Adonai your God, for in the month of Aviv^[b] Adonai your God brought you out from Egypt by night. ² You are to sacrifice the Passover offering to Adonai your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place Adonai chooses to make His Name dwell. ³ You are not to eat hametz with it. For seven days you are to eat matzot with it, the bread of affliction—for you came out from the land of Egypt in haste. Do this so that all the days of your life you will remember the day when you came out from the land of Egypt. ⁴ No hametz should be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day may be left overnight until the morning. ⁵ You may not sacrifice the Passover offering within any of your gates that Adonai your God is giving you. ⁶ Rather, at the place Adonai your God chooses to make His Name dwell, there you will sacrifice the Passover offering in the evening at sunset—the time of your coming out from Egypt. ⁷ You are to cook and eat it at the place Adonai your God chooses, then you will turn around in the morning and journey home. ⁸ For six days you are to eat matzot. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn gathering for Adonai your God—on it you are to do no work.

⁹ Seven weeks you are to count for yourself—from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you will begin to count seven weeks. ¹⁰ Then you will keep the Feast of Shavuot^[c] to Adonai your God with a measure of a freewill offering from your hand, which you are to give according to how Adonai your God blesses you. ¹¹ So you will rejoice before Adonai your God in the place Adonai your God chooses to make His Name dwell—you, your son and daughter, slave and maid, Levite and outsider, orphan and widow in your midst. ¹² You will remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you are to take care and do these statutes.

¹³ “You are to keep the Feast of Sukkot for seven days,^[d] after gathering in the produce from your threshing floor and winepress.” ¹⁴ So you will rejoice in your feast—you, your son and daughter, slave and maid, Levite and outsider, orphan and widow within your gates. ¹⁵ Seven days you will feast to Adonai your God in the place He chooses, because Adonai your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hand, and you will be completely filled with joy. ¹⁶ Three times a year all your males are to appear before Adonai your God in the place He chooses—at the Feast of Matzot, the Feast of Shavuot, and the Feast of Sukkot. No one should appear before Adonai empty-handed— ¹⁷ the gift of each man’s hand according to the blessing Adonai your God has given you.