15 “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

² And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor who lendeth aught unto his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor or from his brother, because it is called the Lord’S release.

³ From a foreigner thou mayest exact it again; but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release,

⁴ save when there shall be no poor among you. For the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it,

⁵ only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

⁶ For the Lord thy God blesseth thee as He promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

⁷ “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother;

⁸ but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth.

⁹ Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁰ Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him, because for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto;

¹¹ for the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying: ‘Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land.’

¹² “And if thy brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

¹³ And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty.

¹⁴ Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor and out of thy wine press. From that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.

¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.

¹⁶ And it shall be, if he say unto thee, ‘I will not go away from thee,’ because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee,

¹⁷ then thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

¹⁸ It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee, for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee in serving thee six years; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

¹⁹ “All the firstling males that come from thy herd and from thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

²⁰ Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year inthe place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household.

²¹ And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame orblind or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.

²² Thou shalt eat it within thy gates; the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck and as the hart.

²³ Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

16 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

² Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name there.

³ Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

⁴ And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy borders seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificed the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.