Deuteronomy 1 1 "At the end of every seven-year period you shall have a relaxation of debts, 每过七年,应施行豁免。 2 which shall be observed as follows. Every creditor shall relax his claim on what he has loaned his neighbor; he must not press his neighbor, his kinsman, because a relaxation in honor of the LORD has been proclaimed. 豁免的方式是这样:债主应把借与近人的一切,全部豁免,不应再向近人或兄弟追还,因为已为光荣上主宣布了豁免。 3 You may press a foreigner, but you shall relax the claim on your kinsman for what is yours. 向外邦人可以追还,但你兄弟欠你的应一概豁免。 4 Nay, more! since the LORD, your God, will bless you abundantly in the land he will give you to occupy as your heritage, there should be no one of you in need. 其实,在你中间不会有穷人,因为在你的天主赐给你作为产业的地上,上主必丰厚地降福你, 5 If you but heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and carefully observe all these commandments which I enjoin on you today, 只要你听从上主你天主的话,谨守遵行我今日吩咐你的这一切诫命。 6 you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none; you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you, since the LORD, your God, will bless you as he promised. 因为你的天主必照他说的,降福你:你要借给许多民族,而你却不需要借贷;你要统治许多民族,但他们却不会统治你。 7 If one of your kinsmen in any community is in need in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his need. 如果在上主你的天主赐给你的地内的一座城里,在你中间有了一个穷人,又是你的兄弟,对这穷苦的兄弟,你不可心硬,不可袖手旁观, 8 Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him enough to meet his need. 应向他伸手,凡他所需要的尽量借给他。 9 Be on your guard lest, entertaining the mean thought that the seventh year, the year of relaxation, is near, you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing; else he will cry to the LORD against you and you will be held guilty. 你应提防,不要心生恶念说:"第七年的豁免年快到了!"就冷眼对待你穷苦的兄弟,不借给他什么。如果他呼求上主反对你,你应负罪。 10 When you give to him, give freely and not with ill will; for the LORD, your God, will bless you for this in all your works and undertakings. 你应尽量供给他;供给他时,不应伤心,因为为了这事,上主你的天主必在你的一切工作,和你着手所作的一切事上降福你。 11 2 The needy will never be lacking in the land; that is why I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy kinsman in your country. 既然在这地上总少不了穷人,为此我吩咐你说:对你地区内困苦贫穷的兄弟,你应大方地伸出援助之手。 12 "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man. 你的兄弟,无论是希伯来男人,或是希伯来女人,若卖身与你,只应服事你六年,在第七年上,你应使他自由。 13 When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, 使他自由时,不可让他空手离去; 14 but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you. 应由你羊群中,打禾场上,榨酒池内,取一些厚厚地酬报他,照上主你的天主降福你的,分给他。 15 For remember that you too were once slaves in the 应记得你在埃及地也曾做过奴隶,上主你的天主将你赎回。为此我今日特将这事吩咐你。 16 If, however, he tells you that he does not wish to leave you, because he is devoted to you and your household, since he fares well with you, 倘若他对你说:"我不愿离开你,"因为他爱你和你的家庭,又喜欢同你在一起, 17 3 you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall then be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way. 你就拿锥子在门上把他耳朵刺透,他便永远成了你的奴仆;对你的婢女也该这样做。 18 You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary; then also the LORD, your God, will bless you in everything you do. 使他自由的时候,你不应感到不满,因为他六年给你服务,应得佣工的双倍工资,并且上主你的天主也必在你所做的事业上降福你。 19 "You shall consecrate to the LORD, your God, all the male firstlings of your herd and of your flock. You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock. 你的牛羊中所生的,凡是头胎雄性的,都应祝圣与上主你的天主;你不可使头胎公牛耕作,也不可剪头胎公羊的毛。 20 Year after year you and your family shall eat them before the LORD, your God, in the place he chooses. 你和你的家属,年年在上主所选的地方,在上主你的天主面前,吃这些首生的牲畜。 21 If, however, a firstling is lame or blind or has any other serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD, your God, 但如果这牲畜有残缺、或腿瘸、或瞎眼、或有任何缺点、你不可祭献给上主你的天主, 22 but in your own communities you may eat it, the unclean and the clean eating it alike, as you would a gazelle or a deer. 可在家里吃,不洁与洁净的,人都可以吃,如吃羚羊和鹿一样; 23 Only, you shall not partake of its blood, which must be poured out on the ground like water. 只不可吃它的血,应将血如水一样泼在地上。 Footnotes(注解) 1 [1] At the end of every seven-year period: in every seventh, or sabbatical, year. Cf Deut 15:9; 31:10; and compare Jeremiah 34:14 with Deut 15:12. A relaxation of debts: it is uncertain whether a full cancellation of debts is meant, or merely a suspension of payment on them or on their interest among the Israelites. Cf Exodus 23:11 where the same Hebrew root is used of a field that is "let lie fallow" in the sabbatical year. 2 [11] The needy will never be lacking: compare the words of Christ, "The poor you have always with you" (Matthew 26:11). 3 [17] His ear: cf Exodus 21:6 and the note there. |