Deuteronomy 15:1–18:22
Debts Canceled Every Seven Years
15 “At the end of aevery seven years you shall grant a 1release of debts. 2 And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall 2release it; he shall not 3require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. 3 Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, 4 except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly bbless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—5 only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; cyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.
7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the 4gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, dyou shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, 8 but eyou shall 5open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. 9 Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your feye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ghe cry out to the Lord against you, and hit become sin among you. 10 You shall surely give to him, and iyour heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because jfor this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. 11 For kthe poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall 6open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
The Law Concerning Bondservants
12 l“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is msold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you 7send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has nblessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 oYou shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. 16 And pif it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, 17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth qa double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals
19 r“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall 8sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 sYou and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. 21 tBut if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it within your gates; uthe unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
16 “Observe the amonth of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for bin the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and cthe herd, in the dplace where the Lord chooses to put His name. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; eseven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may fremember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 gAnd no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until hmorning.
5 “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; 6 but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover iat twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall roast and eat it jin the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and kon the seventh day there shall be a 1sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.
9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the lFeast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give mas the Lord your God blesses you. 11 nYou shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 12 oAnd you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed
13 p“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And qyou shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your 2gates. 15 rSeven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
16 s“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and tthey shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, uaccording to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
18 “You shall appoint vjudges and officers in all your 3gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 wYou shall not pervert justice; xyou shall not 4show partiality, ynor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and 5twists the words of the righteous. 20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may zlive and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21 a“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a 6wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. 22 bYou shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
17 “You ashall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any 1blemish or defect, for that is an 2abomination to the Lord your God.
2 b“If there is found among you, within any of your 3gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, cin transgressing His covenant, 3 who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either dthe sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ewhich I have not commanded, 4 fand it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an 4abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and gshall stone hto death that man or woman with stones. 6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three iwitnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among jyou.
8 k“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the lplace which the Lord your God chooses. 9 And myou shall come to the priests, the Levites, and nto the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; othey shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 Now pthe man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 qAnd all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, r‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you swhom …