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Deuteronomy 15
New International Version
Deuteronomy 15
New International Version
The Year for Canceling Debts(A)
15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.(B) 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner,(C) but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. 4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless(D) you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow(E) all these commands I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.(F)
7 If anyone is poor(G) among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted(H) toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded(I) and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts,(J) is near,” so that you do not show ill will(K) toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.(L) 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;(M) then because of this the Lord your God will bless(N) you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people(O) in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.(P)
Freeing Servants(Q)(R)
12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.(S) 13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor(T) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves(U) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.(V) That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
The Firstborn Animals
19 Set apart for the Lord(W) your God every firstborn male(X) of your herds and flocks.(Y) Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.(Z) 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose.(AA) 21 If an animal has a defect,(AB) is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.(AC) 22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.(AD) 23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.(AE)
Deuteronomy 15
Contemporary English Version
Deuteronomy 15
Contemporary English Version
Loans
(Leviticus 25.1-7)
Moses said:
15 1-2 Every seven years you must announce, “The Lord says loans do not need to be paid back.” Then if you have loaned money to another Israelite, you can no longer ask for payment.[a] 3 This law applies only to loans you have made to other Israelites. Foreigners will still have to pay back what you have loaned them.
4-6 No one in Israel should ever be poor. The Lord your God is giving you this land, and he has promised to make you very successful, if you obey his laws and teachings that I'm giving you today. You will lend money to many nations, but you won't have to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they won't rule you.
7 (A) After the Lord your God gives land to each of you, there may be poor Israelites in the town where you live. If there are, then don't be mean and selfish with your money. 8 Instead, be kind and lend them what they need. 9 Be careful! Don't say to yourself, “Soon it will be the seventh year, and then I won't be able to get my money back.” It would be horrible for you to think that way and to be so selfish that you refuse to help the poor. They are your relatives, and if you don't help them, they may ask the Lord to decide whether you have done wrong. And he will say that you are guilty. 10 You should be happy to give the poor what they need, because then the Lord will make you successful in everything you do.
11 (B) There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy. That's why I am commanding you to be generous with them.
Setting Slaves Free
(Exodus 21.1-11)
Moses said to Israel:
12 (C) If any of you buy Israelites as slaves, you must set them free after six years. 13 And don't just tell them they are free to leave— 14 give them sheep and goats and a good supply of grain and wine. The more the Lord has given you, the more you should give them. 15 I am commanding you to obey the Lord as a reminder that you were slaves in Egypt before he set you free. 16 But one of your slaves may say, “I love you and your family, and I would be better off staying with you, so please don't make me leave.” 17 Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women.
18 Don't complain when you have to set a slave free. After all, you got six years of service at half the cost of hiring someone to do the work.[b]
First-Born Animals
(Leviticus 27.26,27; Numbers 18.15-18)
Moses said to Israel:
19 (D) If the first-born animal of a cow or sheep or goat is a male, it must be given to the Lord. Don't put first-born cattle to work or cut wool from first-born sheep. 20 Instead, each year you must take the first-born of these animals to the place where the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped. You and your family will sacrifice them to the Lord and then eat them as part of a sacred meal.
21 But if the animal is lame or blind or has something else wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You can butcher it where you live, and eat it just like the meat of a deer or gazelle that you kill while hunting. Even those people who are unclean and unfit for worship can have some. 23 (E) But you must never eat the blood of an animal—let it drain out on the ground.
Footnotes
- 15.1,2 The Lord says … no longer ask for payment: Or “ ‘The Lord says loans do not need to be paid back this year.’ Then if you have loaned money to another Israelite, you cannot ask for payment until the next year.”
- 15.18 six years … work: Or “six years of service, and it cost you no more than if you had hired someone to do the work”; or “six years of service, for what you would have had to pay a worker for two years.”
Deuteronomy 15
English Standard Version
Deuteronomy 15
English Standard Version
The Sabbatical Year
15 “At the end of (A)every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3 (B)Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 (C)But there will be no poor among you; (D)for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 (E)if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, (F)as he promised you, and (G)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and (H)you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, (I)you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but (J)you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your (K)eye look grudgingly[a] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he (L)cry to the Lord against you, and (M)you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and (N)your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because (O)for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For (P)there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, (Q)‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 (R)“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold[b] to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. (S)As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 (T)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But (U)if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave[c] forever. And to your female slave[d] you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 (V)“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 (W)You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 (X)But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. (Y)The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 (Z)Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Or be evil; also verse 10
- Deuteronomy 15:12 Or sells himself
- Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
- Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant
New International Version (NIV) 
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Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.