1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. 2 This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. 3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. 4 There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, 5 if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. 6 When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none. 7 If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. 8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land. 12 If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. 13 And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. 14 You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving 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 household and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way. 18 Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you d…
Deuteronomy 15:1–23
Semantically similar passages
Leviticus 25:38–40
38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39 If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. 40 Let him stay with you as a hi…
Jeremiah 34:13–15
13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying: 14 Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you…
Deuteronomy 24:17–19
17 Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from that place. Therefore I am commanding you to do this. 19 If you are harvesting in y…
Deuteronomy 24:21–22
21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.
Deuteronomy 16:16–18
16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. 17 Everyone must appear with…
Exodus 22:24–26
24 My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless. 25 If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him…
Leviticus 25:42–44
42 Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves. 43 You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God. 44 Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, fro…
Exodus 21:1–3
1 “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. 3 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, sh…
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