Holman Christian Standard Bible

Deuteronomy 15:6-18 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

6. 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.

7. “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.

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

9. 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.

10. Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

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

12. “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.

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

14. 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.

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

16. 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,

17. 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.

18. Do not regard it as a hardship 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.