² “If you buy ^(A)a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.

¹⁰ So you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and ^(A)proclaim ^[a]a release throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, ^[b]and ^(B)each of you shall return to his own property, ^[c]and each of you shall return to his family.

³⁹ ‘Now ^(A)if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. ⁴⁰ He shall be with you as a hired worker, ^(B)as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ He shall then leave you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, so that he may return to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. ^43 (C)You shall not rule over him with ^[a]severity, but are to revere your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ You may also acquire them from the sons of the foreign residents who reside among you, and from their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. ⁴⁶ You may also pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. ^(D)But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with ^[b]severity over one another.

Charging Interest Abolished

5 Now ^(A)there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their ^(B)Jewish brothers. ² For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let’s ^(C)get grain so that we may eat and live.” ³ And there were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses so that we might get grain because of the famine.” ⁴ There also were those who said, “We have borrowed money ^(D)for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. ⁵ And now ^(E)our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, ^(F)we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and ^[a]we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

⁶ Then I was very ^(G)angry when I heard their outcry and these words. ⁷ So I thought it over and contended with the nobles and the leading people, and said to them, “^(H)You are lending at interest, each to his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. ⁸ And I said to them, “We, according to our ability, ^(I)have ^[b]redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. ⁹ So I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of ^(J)the taunting of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ And likewise I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let’s ^[c]do without this interest. ¹¹ Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, as well as the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that you are charging as interest from them.” ¹² Then they said, “We ^(K)will give it back and ^(L)will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and made them ^(M)take an oath to act in accordance with this ^[d]promise. ¹³ I ^(N)also shook out the ^[e]front of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every person from his house and from his possessions who does not keep this ^[f]promise; just so may he be shaken out and emptied.” And ^(O)all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people acted in accordance with this ^[g]promise.

¹⁴ “^(A)At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who ^[a]has been sold to you and has served you for six years, and you shall send him out free from you.” But your forefathers ^(B)did not obey Me nor incline their ear to Me.

¹⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ^[a]release, each one to his brother and each to his neighbor. Behold, I am ^(A)proclaiming a ^[b]release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the ^(B)sword, to the plague, and to the famine; and I will make you a ^(C)terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.