Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord an Abundant Helper.

The Sabbatic Year

15 “^(A)At the end of every seven years you shall ^[a]grant a remission of debts. ² This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. ^3 (B)From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. ⁴ However, there will be no poor among you, since ^(C)the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, ⁵ if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. ^6 (D)For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ “If there is ^(E)a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your ^[b]towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(F)you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; ⁸ but ^(G)you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. ⁹ Beware that there is no base ^[c]thought in your heart, saying, ‘^(H)The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and ^(I)your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he ^(J)may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. ¹⁰ You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(K)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all ^[d]your undertakings. ^11 (L)For the poor will never cease to be ^[e]in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

¹⁵ For this reason ^(A)He is the ^(B)mediator of a ^(C)new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been ^(D)called may ^(E)receive the promise of ^(F)the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶ For where a ^[a]covenant is, there must of necessity ^[b]be the death of the one who made it. ¹⁷ For a ^[c]covenant is valid only when ^[d]men are dead, ^[e]for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. ¹⁸ Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment had been ^(G)spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, ^(H)he took the ^(I)blood of the calves and the goats, with ^(J)water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both ^(K)the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “^(L)This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” ²¹ And in the same way he ^(M)sprinkled both the ^[f]tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. ²² And according to the ^[g]Law, one may ^(N)almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and ^(O)without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³ Therefore it was necessary for the ^(P)copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but ^(Q)the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ ^(R)did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of ^(S)the true one, but into ^(T)heaven itself, now ^(U)to appear in the presence of God for us;