The Sabbatical Year
1 “At the end of jevery seven years you shall grant a release. 2 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. 3 kOf a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 lBut there will be no poor among you; mfor the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 nif only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, oas he promised you, and pyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and qyou shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 “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, ryou shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but syou shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 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 teye look grudgingly1 on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he ucry to the Lord against you, and vyou be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and wyour heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because xfor this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For ythere will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, s‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 z“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold2 to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. aAs the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 bYou 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. 16 But cif 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, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave3 forever. And to your female slave4 you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 d“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. 20 eYou shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 fBut 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. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. gThe unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 hOnly you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Passover
1 “Observe the imonth of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for jin the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or kthe herd, lat the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. mSeven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt nin haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 oNo leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, pnor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For qsix days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be ra solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.
The Feast of Weeks
9 s“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep tthe Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with uthe tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give vas the Lord your God blesses you. 11 And wyou shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. 12 xYou shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
The Feast of Booths
13 y“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 zYou shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For aseven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 b“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. cThey shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man dshall give as he is able, vaccording to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
Justice
18 “You shall appoint ejudges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 fYou shall not pervert justice. gYou shall not show partiality, hand you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Forbidden Forms of Worship
21 “You shall not plant any tree as ian Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
Practical Warnings
1 My son, if you have put up esecurity for your neighbor,
have egiven your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are fsnared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten,1 and gplead urgently with your neighbor.
4 hGive your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,2
ilike a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 jGo to kthe ant, O lsluggard;
consider her ways, and mbe wise.
7 nWithout having any chief,
oofficer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread pin summer
and qgathers her food in harvest.
9 rHow long will you lie there, lO sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 sA little sleep, a little slumber,
ta little sfolding of the hands to rest,
11 uand poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
12 vA worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with wcrooked speech,
13 xwinks with his eyes, signals3 with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with yperverted heart zdevises evil,
continually asowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
16 There are dsix things that the Lord hates,
dseven that are an abomination to him:
17 ehaughty eyes, fa lying tongue,
and ghands that shed innocent blood,
18 ha heart that devises wicked plans,
ifeet that make haste to run to evil,
19 ja false witness who kbreathes out lies,
and one who asows discord among brothers.
Warnings Against Adultery
20 lMy son, keep your father’s commandment,
land forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21 mBind them on your heart always;
ntie them around your neck.
22 oWhen you walk, they4 will lead you;
owhen you lie down, they will pwatch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is qa lamp and the teaching a light,
and the rreproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman,5
from the smooth tongue of sthe adulteress.6
25 tDo not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her ueyelashes;
26 for vthe price of a prostitute is only wa loaf of bread,7
but a married woman8 xhunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry yfire next to his zchest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one awalk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her bwill go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to csatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but dif he is caught, he will pay esevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For fjealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when ghe takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
