Atlas Biblica

    Deuteronomy · 23 verses

    Deuteronomy 15

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A household door becomes the place where a servant’s wish to remain is made permanent: an awl through the ear, and service for life.

    Release, lending, and the poorvv. 1–11

    Every seventh year arrives with a clean sweep of debts: the creditor cancels what was lent to a neighbor or brother, though a foreigner may still be charged. The chapter first promises, “There will be no poor among you,” provided obedience brings blessing; a few lines later it says, with equal plainness, “there will never cease to be poor in the land.” The answer to this untidy pairing is not an explanation but an open hand: the poor brother is to receive freely, without the lender calculating that the year of release is inconveniently near.

    The servant and the doorvv. 12–18

    A fellow Hebrew who has served six years is released in the seventh, and must not be sent away empty-handed: flock, threshing floor, and winepress are to furnish the departure. Yet the released servant may decline it. If he says, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves the household and is well off there, the procedure is wonderfully specific and entirely domestic: an awl is driven through his ear into the door, and the servant remains for life. The six years are counted as worth twice the wages of a hired hand, which makes freedom sound less like a grudging favour than a substantial settlement.

    The firstborn at tablevv. 19–23

    The firstborn male of the herds and flocks is set apart to the LORD: the ox is not put to work, and the sheep is not shorn. Each year it is eaten by the household before the LORD at the chosen place. A defect changes the arrangement. The lame, blind, or seriously flawed animal is not sacrificed but eaten within the gates, where ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it alike, as gazelle or deer. Blood alone is excluded, poured on the ground like water—a very firm boundary around an otherwise generous supper.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Deut 15:1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

    2. Deut 15:2This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.

    3. Deut 15:3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

    4. Deut 15:4There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,

    5. Deut 15:5if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.

    6. Deut 15:6When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.

    7. Deut 15:7If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.

    8. Deut 15:8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.

    9. Deut 15:9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

    10. Deut 15:10Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

    11. Deut 15:11For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

    12. Deut 15:12If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

    13. Deut 15:13And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

    14. Deut 15:14You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

    15. Deut 15:15Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

    16. Deut 15:16But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,

    17. Deut 15:17then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

    18. Deut 15:18Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

    19. Deut 15:19You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.

    20. Deut 15:20Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.

    21. Deut 15:21But 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. Deut 15:22Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.

    23. Deut 15:23But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 170 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 6Deuteronomy 28:12–13The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.
    • 11Matthew 26:11The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.
    • 11Mark 14:7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you will not always have Me.
    • 10Proverbs 22:9A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
    • 11John 12:8The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”
    • 11Deuteronomy 15:8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.
    • 3Deuteronomy 23:20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.
    • 4Proverbs 28:27Whoever gives to the poor will not be in need, but he who hides his eyes will receive many curses.
    • 4Isaiah 58:10–11and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
    • 6Proverbs 22:7The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
    • 61 Kings 4:21And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
    • 6Luke 6:35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
    • 9Deuteronomy 24:15You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
    • 10Deuteronomy 14:29Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.
    • 10Hebrews 13:16And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
    • 11Proverbs 22:2The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.

    Onward

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