Study Desk

"At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.^(a)

This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor^[a] is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord 's release of debts has been proclaimed.

You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

"There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance^(b)—

if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today.

When the Lord your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

"If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.

Be careful that there isn't this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,' and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty.

Give to him, and don't have a stingy heart^[b] when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.^[c]

For there will never cease to be poor people in the land;^(c) that is why I am commanding you, ‘You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.'

"If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.^(d)

When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed.

Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed^(e) you; that is why I am giving you this command today.^(f)

But if your slave says to you, ‘I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you,

take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way.

Do not regard it as a hardship^[d] when you set him free, because he worked for you six years—worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.^(g)

"You must consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock.^(h) You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses.

But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer.

But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water.⁽ⁱ⁾

"Observe the month of Abib^[a](a) and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib.

Sacrifice to Yahweh your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have His name dwell.^(b)

You must not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship—because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

No yeast is to be found anywhere in your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day is to remain until morning.

You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns the Lord your God is giving you.

You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where Yahweh your God chooses to have His name dwell. Do this in the evening as the sun sets at the same time of day you departed from Egypt.

You are to cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning.

You must eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God, and you must not do any work.

"You are to count seven weeks, counting the weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.^(c)

You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you.

Rejoice^(d) before Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes.

"You are to celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in everything from your threshing floor and winepress.^(e)

Rejoice during your festival—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, as well as the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates.

You are to hold a seven-day festival for the Lord your God in the place He chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands,^(f) and you will have abundant joy.

"All your males are to appear three times a year^(g) before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed.

Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

"Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

Do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(h)

"Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for the Lord your God,

and do not set up a sacred pillar; the Lord your God hates them.⁽ⁱ⁾