Deuteronomy 15

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 "At the end of every seven-year period you shall have a relaxation of debts,	1 In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission,
2 which shall be observed as follows. Every creditor shall relax his claim on what he has loaned his neighbor; he must not press his neighbor, his kinsman, because a relaxation in honor of the LORD has been proclaimed.	2 Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord,
3 You may press a foreigner, but you shall relax the claim on your kinsman for what is yours.	3 Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again.
4 Nay, more! since the LORD, your God, will bless you abundantly in the land he will give you to occupy as your heritage, there should be no one of you in need.	4 And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession.
5 If you but heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and carefully observe all these commandments which I enjoin on you today,	5 Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised.
6 you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none; you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you, since the LORD, your God, will bless you as he promised.	6 Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.
7 If one of your kinsmen in any community is in need in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his need.	7 If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within the gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand,
8 Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him enough to meet his need.	8 But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of.
9 Be on your guard lest, entertaining the mean thought that the seventh year, the year of relaxation, is near, you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing; else he will cry to the LORD against you and you will be held guilty.	9 Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee.
10 When you give to him, give freely and not with ill will; for the LORD, your God, will bless you for this in all your works and undertakings.	10 But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand.
11 The needy will never be lacking in the land; that is why I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy kinsman in your country.	11 There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.
12 "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man.	12 When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free:
13 When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed,	13 And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
14 but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.	14 But shalt give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee.
15 For remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.	15 Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this.
16 If, however, he tells you that he does not wish to leave you, because he is devoted to you and your household, since he fares well with you,	16 But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee:
17 you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall then be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way.	17 Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also.
18 You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary; then also the LORD, your God, will bless you in everything you do.	18 Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them tree: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost.
19 "You shall consecrate to the LORD, your God, all the male firstlings of your herd and of your flock. You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock.	19 Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep.
20 Year after year you and your family shall eat them before the LORD, your God, in the place he chooses.	20 In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house.
21 If, however, a firstling is lame or blind or has any other serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD, your God,	21 But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God.
22 but in your own communities you may eat it, the unclean and the clean eating it alike, as you would a gazelle or a deer.	22 But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart.
23 Only, you shall not partake of its blood, which must be poured out on the ground like water.	23 Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.