Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Year for Forgiving People What They Owe

15 At the end of every seven years you must forgive people what they owe you. ² Have you made a loan to one of your own people? Then forgive what is owed to you. You can’t require that person to pay you back. The Lord’s time to forgive what is owed has been announced. ³ You can require someone from another nation to pay you back. But you must forgive what any of your own people owes you. ⁴ There shouldn’t be any poor people among you. The Lord will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you. You will take it over as your own. ⁵ The Lord your God will bless you if you obey him completely. Be careful to follow all the commands I’m giving you today. ⁶ The Lord your God will bless you, just as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations. But you won’t have to borrow from any of them. You will rule over many nations. But none of them will rule over you.

⁷ Suppose someone is poor among you. And suppose they live in one of the towns in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Then don’t be mean to them. They are poor. So don’t hold back money from them. ⁸ Instead, open your hands and lend them what they need. Do it freely. ⁹ Be careful not to have an evil thought in your mind. Don’t say to yourself, “The seventh year will soon be here. It’s the year for forgiving people what they owe.” If you think like that, you might treat the needy people among you badly. You might not give them anything. Then they might make their appeal to the Lord against you. And he will find you guilty of sin. ¹⁰ So give freely to needy people. Let your heart be tender toward them. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work. He will bless you in everything you do. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. So I’m commanding you to give freely to those who are poor and needy in your land. Open your hands to them.

¹⁵ That’s why Christ is the go-between of a new covenant. Now those God calls to himself will receive the eternal gift he promised. They will receive it now that Christ has died to save them. He died to set them free from the sins they committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶ What happens when someone leaves a will? It is necessary to prove that the person who made the will has died. ¹⁷ A will is in effect only when somebody has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is still living. ¹⁸ That’s why even the first covenant was not put into effect without the spilling of blood. ¹⁹ Moses first announced every command of the law to all the people. Then he took the blood of calves. He also took water, bright red wool and branches of a hyssop plant. He sprinkled the Book of the Covenant. He also sprinkled all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant God has commanded you to keep.” (Exodus 24:8) ²¹ In the same way, he sprinkled the holy tent with blood. He also sprinkled everything that was used in worship there. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be made “clean” with blood. Without the spilling of blood, no one can be forgiven.

²³ So the copies of the heavenly things had to be made pure with these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be made pure with better sacrifices. ²⁴ Christ did not enter a sacred tent made with human hands. That tent was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself. He did it to stand in front of God for us. He is there right now.