15:7 If a fellow Israelite 10 from one of your villages 11 in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive 12 to his impoverished condition. 13 15:8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend 14 him whatever he needs. 15 15:9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude 16 be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite 17 and you do not lend 18 him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. 19 15:10 You must by all means lend 20 to him and not be upset by doing it, 21 for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open 22 your hand to your fellow Israelites 23 who are needy and poor in your land.
15:12 If your fellow Hebrew 24 – whether male or female 25 – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant 26 go free. 27 15:13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 15:14 You must supply them generously 28 from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today. 15:16 However, if the servant 29 says to you, “I do not want to leave 30 you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 15:17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. 31 Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). 15:18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice 32 the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
15:19 You must set apart 33 for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 15:20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he 34 chooses. 15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else 35 – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 15:22 You may eat it in your villages, 36 whether you are ritually impure or clean, 37 just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 15:23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.