⁴In any case, there shouldn’t be any poor people among you, because the Lord your God will certainly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own possession. ⁵He will bless you only if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you today. ⁶The Lord your God will bless you, as he promised. You will make loans to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any of them. You will rule many nations, but no nation will ever rule you.

⁷This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁸Be generous to these poor people, and freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hard-hearted and tight-fisted with them.^a

⁹When the seventh year—the year when payments on debts are canceled—is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to the Lord about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. ¹⁰Be sure to give to them without any hesitation. When you do this, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you work for and set out to do. ¹¹There will always be poor people in the land. That’s why I command you to be generous to other Israelites who are poor and needy.

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Footnotes

a 15:8 This sentence has been moved from verse 7 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.