The Sabbatical Year
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And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed.
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2Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.
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3But there will be no poor among you; 4for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess--
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5if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.
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For the LORD your God will bless you, 6as he promised you, and 7you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and 8you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
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"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, 9you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,
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Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, 'The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your 11eye look grudginglya on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he 12cry to the LORD against you, and 13you be guilty of sin.
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You shall give to him freely, and 14your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because 15for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.
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For 16there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 17'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'
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18"If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is soldb to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
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And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
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You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. 19As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
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20You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
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But 21if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you,
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then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.
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It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
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22"All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
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23You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose.
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24But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)