Deuteronomy 15
The full text of Deuteronomy 15 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.
4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
6 For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.
8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.
10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.
13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed.
14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,
17 then take an awl and push it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
19 Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose.
21 If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.
23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
Translation notes (7)
- Deuteronomy 15:1a The phrase "Cancel debts" translates the Hebrew word shemittah, which means "the release"—a periodic cancellation of debts that occurred in the seventh year. This is comparable to the related sabbatical practice of letting the land lie uncultivated (Exodus 23:10-11).
- Deuteronomy 15:7a This verse literally says "do not harden your heart or shut your hand," which are two vivid images describing a lack of generosity. The translation renders this idiomatically as "hardhearted or tightfisted" while still allowing the original bodily comparison to be recognized.
- Deuteronomy 15:9a The phrase "This wicked thought" translates the Hebrew davar... beliyya'al, which literally means "a worthless or base word with your heart"—referring to a deliberate refusal to lend money as the year of debt release approaches. The statement "They may appeal to the LORD against you" (veqara' 'aleikha 'el YHWH) means that the LORD himself will hear the matter of a withheld loan.
- Deuteronomy 15:11a This realistic acknowledgment, "the poor will never cease from the land," exists alongside the ideal of the covenant in verse 4, which states "there need be no poor." Both statements are kept, preserving the tension rather than resolving it; this is echoed in Matthew 26:11.
- Deuteronomy 15:12a The phrase "Sell themselves" (yimmakheir) refers to debt-servitude, where a Hebrew person was bound to service to repay a debt and was released in the seventh year. Notably, a female slave is explicitly included in this command, unlike the parallel passage in Exodus 21:7.
- Deuteronomy 15:17a The ritual of piercing the ear with an awl at the door marks a voluntary choice for lifelong service for someone who chooses not to go free (compare Exodus 21:5-6). The phrase "For life" translates the Hebrew 'eved 'olam, meaning a servant in perpetuity, or forever; the text reports this rite as it is given.
- Deuteronomy 15:18a The phrase "Worth twice as much as a hired hand" (mishneh sekhar sakhir) means that the released servant's six years of service provided the master with double the value of hired labor, so freeing them was not a real financial loss.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own translation of Scripture, made directly from the original Hebrew rather than revised from an older English Bible. Completed in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation available, and it is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Reading the TBV here on the web is free — the full study edition, with original-language tools and notes on every verse, lives in the Trinity Bible app.
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