Devarim (Deuteronomy): Reeh > Ch 15

Every seven years you must release loans that are owed to you by other Jews

  • At the end of seven years you will make a release. And this is the manner of the release; to release the hand of every creditor from what he lent his friend; he shall not exact from his friend or his brother, because time of the release for the Lord has arrived. From the foreigner you may exact; but what is yours with your brother, your hand shall release.


Follow G-d’s commandments and you will rule over other nations and will not borrow from them

  • However, there will be no needy among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land the Lord, your G-d, is giving you for an inheritance to possess. However, if you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your G-d, to be careful to do all this commandment, which I am commanding you today. For the Lord, your G-d, has blessed you, as He spoke to you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.


Do not close your hand to a needy Jew in your land

  • If there will be among you a needy person, from one of your brothers in one of your cities, in your land the Lord, your G-d, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother. Rather, you shall open your hand to him, and you shall lend him sufficient for his needs, which he is lacking. Beware, lest there be in your heart an unfaithful thought, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release has approached," and you will begrudge your needy brother and not give him, and he will cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin to you. You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; for because of this thing the Lord, your G-d, will bless you in all your work and in all your endeavors.


Every seven years you must release Hebrew slaves unless they don’t want to leave

  • For there will never cease to be needy within the land. Therefore, I command you, saying, you shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor one, and to your needy one in your land. If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you for six years, and in the seventh year you shall send him forth free from you. And when you send him forth free from you, you shall not send him forth empty-handed. You shall surely provide him from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your vat, you shall give him from what the Lord, your G-d, has blessed you And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your G-d, redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you this thing today. And it will be, if he says to you, "I will not leave you," because he loves you and your household, for it is good for him with you, Then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear and into the door, and he shall be a servant to you forever; and also to your maidservant you shall do likewise. You shall not be troubled when you send him free from you, for twice as much as a hired servant, he has served you six years, and the Lord, your G-d, will bless you in all that you shall do.


Every firstborn of your flock shall be sanctified to G-d. When eating it, do not eat blood.

  • Every firstborn male that is born of your cattle or of your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord, your G-d. You shall neither work with the firstborn of your ox, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You shall eat it before the Lord, your G-d, year by year, in the place the Lord chooses-you and your household. And if there be any blemish in it, whether it be lame, or blind, or any ill blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord, your G-d. You shall eat it within your cities, the unclean and the clean together, as the deer, and as the gazelle. However, you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground, as water.