1 At the end of each seven years you are to make a release.
2 This is how the release works: every creditor is to release the loan he has made to his neighbor. He must not demand it from his neighbor, his brother, for a release to the LORD has been proclaimed.
3 You may demand payment from a foreigner, but whatever your brother owes you, your hand must let go.
4 There should, however, be no poor person among you, because the LORD will richly bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,
5 if only you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God and take care to carry out this whole commandment that I give you today.
6 The LORD your God will bless you just as he told you. You will lend to many nations and not borrow from them; you will rule many nations, and they will not rule you.
7 If among you there is a poor man, one of your brothers, in any of the towns in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not harden your heart or close your hand to your brother in need.
8 Rather, open your hand to him generously and lend him whatever he needs, enough for what he lacks.
9 Watch yourself, so that no worthless thought enters your heart, such as, "The seventh year, the year of release, is close," and you look with an evil eye on your needy brother and give him nothing. He may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
10 Give to him freely, and do not let your heart be grieved when you give, for on account of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you undertake.
11 Since there will never be a lack of poor people in the land, I command you: open your hand wide to your brother, to the needy and the poor in your land.
12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you six years, but in the seventh year you must set him free.
13 And when you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed.
14 Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Give to him in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you.
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if he tells 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 be your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set him free, for his six years of service to you have been worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
19 Set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male born in your herd or flock. Do not put the firstborn of your ox to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
20 Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD chooses.
21 If it has a blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious flaw, do not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 Eat it within your gates; the unclean person and the clean may eat it alike, as if it were a gazelle or a deer.
23 But you must not eat its blood; pour it out on the ground like water.