NKJV Bible in 365 Days
Freedom, Festivals, and Fairness — February 24
Deuteronomy 15-16
Deuteronomy 15
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a [a] release of debts. 365N 55.1
2 And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall [b] release it; he shall not [c] require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord ’s release. 365N 55.2
3 Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, 365N 55.3
4 except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— 365N 55.4
5 only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. 365N 55.5
6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. 365N 55.6
7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the [d] gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, 365N 55.7
8 but you shall [e] open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. 365N 55.8
9 Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you. 365N 55.9
10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. 365N 55.10
11 For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall [f] open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’ 365N 55.11
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 365N 55.12
13 And when you [g] send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 365N 55.13
14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 365N 55.14
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. 365N 55.15
16 And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, 365N 55.16
17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 365N 55.17
18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do. 365N 55.18
19 “All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall [h] sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 365N 55.19
20 You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. 365N 55.20
21 But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 365N 55.21
22 You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 365N 55.22
23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water. 365N 55.23
Deuteronomy 16
1 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 365N 55.24
2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name. 365N 55.25
3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 365N 55.26
4 And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning. 365N 55.27
5 “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; 365N 55.28
6 but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 365N 55.29
7 And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 365N 55.30
8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a [a] sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. 365N 55.31
9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 365N 55.32
10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. 365N 55.33
11 You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 365N 55.34
12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. 365N 55.35
13 “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 365N 55.36
14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your [b] gates. 365N 55.37
15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. 365N 55.38
16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 365N 55.39
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. 365N 55.40
18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your [c] gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 365N 55.41
19 You shall not pervert justice; you shall not [d] show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and [e] twists the words of the righteous. 365N 55.42
20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 365N 55.43
21 “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a [f] wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. 365N 55.44
22 You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates. 365N 55.45