Old Testament

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Deuteronomy 15:8-19 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

8. But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and you shall willingly lend to him enough to meet his need, whatever it is.

9. Take care so that there will not be a thought of wickedness in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,’ and you view your needy neighbor with hostility, and so you do not give to him, and he might cry out against you to Yahweh, and you would incur guilt against yourself.

10. By all means you must give to him, and you must not be discontented at your giving to him, because on account of this very thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

11. For the poor will not cease to be among you in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor that are in your land.’

12. If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and he or she has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person out free.

13. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

14. You shall generously supply him from among your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; according to that with which Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

15. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you thus today.

16. And then if it will happen that he says to you, ‘I do not want to go out from you,’ because he loves you and your family, because it is good for him to be with you;

17. then you shall take an awl, and you shall thrust it through his earlobe and into the door, and he shall be to you a slave forever; and you shall also do likewise for your slave woman.

18. It shall not be hard in your eyes when you send him forth free, because for six years he has served you worth twice the wage of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you in whatever you will do.

19. “Every firstling male that is born of your herd and of your flock you shall consecrate to Yahweh your God; you shall not do work with the firstling of your ox, and you shall not shear the firstling of your flock.

Read complete chapter Deuteronomy 15