Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord, an Abundant Helper.

The Sabbatical Year

15 “^(A)At the end of every seven years you shall ^[a]grant a release of debts. ² And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. ^3 (B)From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall ^[b]forgive whatever of yours is with your brother. ⁴ However, there will be no poor among you, since ^(C)the Lord will certainly 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 ^[c]follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. ^6 (D)For the Lord your God will have blessed you just 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 person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your ^[d]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 fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks. ⁹ Be careful that there is no mean-spirited ^[e]thought in your heart, ^[f]such as, ‘^(H)The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and ^(I)your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he ^(J)may cry out 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 ^[g]grudging when you give to him, because ^(K)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all ^[h]your undertakings. ^11 (L)For the poor will not cease ^[i]to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully 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 violations 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 there is a ^[a]covenant, there must of necessity ^[b]be the death of the one who made it. ¹⁷ For a ^[c]covenant is valid only when people are dead, ^[d]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 ^[e]tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. ²² And ^(N)almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and ^(O)without the 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 things, but ^(Q)the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ ^(R)did not enter a holy place made by 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;