1 ARST At the end of{ every} seven years, you must cancel all debts. BSB BSB: At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2 ARST Do it like this: Each of you who has lent money to a fellow Israelite must cancel that debt. You must not insist that he pay it back. You must do that because Yahweh has declared that the debts must be canceled every seven years. BSB BSB: This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.
3 ARST During that year you may require foreigners who live among you to pay what they owe you, but you must not demand that from any fellow Israelite. BSB BSB: You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.
4 ARST Yahweh our God will bless you in the land that he is giving to you. If you obey Yahweh our God and obey all the commandments that I am giving to you today, there will not be any poor people among you. BSB BSB: There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,
6 ARST Yahweh our God will bless you like he has promised to do. You will be able to lend money to people of other people groups, but you will not need a loan from any of them. You will influence{ the finances of} many people groups, but they will not influence yours. BSB BSB: When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.
7 ARST In the towns that Yahweh our God is giving to you, if there are any Israelites who are poor, do not be selfish and refuse to help them. BSB BSB: If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.
8 ARST Instead, be generous and lend them the money that they need. BSB BSB: Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.
9 ARST When the year when debts will be canceled is near, do not think to yourself that{ you should not lend anyone money because} they will not need to pay it back. It would be evil to withhold help from a needy fellow Israelite. If you do that, he could pray to Yahweh against you. Then{ Yahweh will say that} you have sinned by not helping that person. BSB BSB: Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
10 ARST Give freely to poor people and give generously. If you do that, Yahweh will bless you in everything that you do. BSB BSB: Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.
11 ARST There will always be some poor people in your land, so I command you to give generously to poor people, to your fellow Israelites. BSB BSB: For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.
13 ARST When you free them, do not allow them to go empty- handed. BSB BSB: And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
14 ARST Instead, give to them generously from the things with which Yahweh has blessed you— sheep, grain, and wine. BSB BSB: You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.
15 ARST Do not forget that your ancestors were once slaves in Egypt and that Yahweh our God freed them. So, I am now commanding you to do this. BSB BSB: Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.
16 ARST It may happen that one of your slaves tells you they do not want to leave you. Perhaps he loves you and your household because you have treated him well. BSB BSB: But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,
17 ARST In that case, take him to the door of your house. While he is standing against the doorway, pierce one of his earlobes with an awl. That will indicate that he will be your slave for the rest of his life. Do the same thing to any female slave{ who does not want to leave you}. BSB BSB: then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.
18 ARST Do not complain when you are required to free your slaves. Keep in mind that they served you for six years, and that you paid them only half as much as you pay the servants that you hire. If you free them, Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do. BSB BSB: Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
19 ARST Set aside for the honor of Yahweh our God the firstborn male animals from your cattle and sheep. Do not force them to do any work for you, and do not shear the wool of the firstborn animals. BSB BSB: You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.
20 ARST Each year, you and your family must kill them and eat their meat in the presence of Yahweh at the place that he chooses for you to worship him. BSB BSB: Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.
21 ARST But if the animals have any defects, if they are lame or blind, or if they have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to Yahweh our God. BSB BSB: But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 ARST You may kill and eat the meat of those animals in your towns. The impure and pure people{ may eat it}, just like{ anyone is permitted to eat} the meat of a gazelle or a deer. BSB BSB: Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.
23 ARST But you must not eat any of the blood. You must drain all the blood on the ground when you kill those animals. BSB BSB: But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.