Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Hebrew Names Version

Deuteronomy 15:13

When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beneficence;   Fraternity;   Liberality;   Poor;   Sabbatic Year;   Thompson Chain Reference - Benevolence;   Liberality-Parsimony;   Social Duties;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Liberality;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Servant;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Sabbatical year;   Slave;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Slave, Slavery;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Debtor;   Freedom;   Poor;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Law;   Loan;   Poor;   Slave;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Economic Life;   Freedom;   Loan;   Slave/servant;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crimes and Punishments;   Debt;   Deuteronomy;   Leviticus;   Poverty;   Sabbatical Year;   Slave, Slavery;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Law in the Old Testament;   Oded;   Poverty;   Sabbatical Year;   Slave;   Son;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Agrarian Laws;   Commandments, the 613;   Slaves and Slavery;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed.
King James Version
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Lexham English Bible
And when you send him out free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed.
English Standard Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
New Century Version
When you let slaves go, don't send them away without anything.
New English Translation
If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.
Amplified Bible
"When you set him free, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.
New American Standard Bible
"And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him goe away emptie,
Legacy Standard Bible
When you let him go to be free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
Contemporary English Version
And don't just tell them they are free to leave—
Complete Jewish Bible
Moreover, when you set him free, don't let him leave empty-handed;
Darby Translation
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty;
Easy-to-Read Version
But when you let your slave go free, don't send him away with nothing.
George Lamsa Translation
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;
Good News Translation
When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.
Literal Translation
And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And wha thou deliuerest him fre, thou shalt not let him go from the emptye,
American Standard Version
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:
Bible in Basic English
And when you make him free, do not let him go away with nothing in his hands:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when thou sendest hym out free from thee, thou shalt not let hym go away emptie:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty;
King James Version (1611)
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away emptie:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And when thou shalt send him out free from thee, thou shalt not send him out empty.
English Revised Version
And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:
Berean Standard Bible
And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thou schalt not suffre hym go awey voide, to whom thou hast yyue fredom;
Young's Literal Translation
And when thou dost send him away free from thee, thou dost not send him away empty;
Update Bible Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:
Webster's Bible Translation
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him depart empty:
World English Bible
When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:
New King James Version
And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;
New Living Translation
"When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed.
New Life Bible
When you set him free, do not send him away with nothing.
New Revised Standard
And when you send a male slave out from you a free person, you shall not send him out empty-handed.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and when thou lettest him go out free, from thee, thou shalt not let him go out empty:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Revised Standard Version
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

Contextual Overview

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold to you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: 14 you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Mitzrayim, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. 16 It shall be, if he tell you, I will not go out from you; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; 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 maid-servant you shall do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

This is a most humane and merciful addition to the law in Exodus 21:2-11, enforced upon the Israelites by the consideration of their Egyptian bondage. As a faithful servant has made no property for himself while honestly serving his master, so now, when he quits his service, he has nothing to begin the world with except what the kindness of his master may bestow upon him as a remuneration for his zeal and fidelity. Though what was to be bestowed upon servants is not fixed, yet they were to be liberally supplied - Deuteronomy 15:14. Genesis 31:42, Exodus 3:21, Leviticus 25:42-44, Proverbs 3:27, Proverbs 3:28, Jeremiah 22:13, Malachi 3:5, Colossians 4:1

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
After these things the word of the LORD came to Avram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Avram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."
Genesis 15:2
Avram said, "Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eli`ezer of Dammesek?"
Genesis 15:6
He believed in the LORD; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
Genesis 15:7
He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Kasdim, to give you this land to inherit it."
Genesis 15:8
He said, "Lord GOD, whereby will I know that I will inherit it?"
Genesis 15:11
The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Avram drove them away.
Genesis 15:12
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Avram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
Genesis 15:13
He said to Avram, "Know for sure that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
Genesis 17:8
I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Kana`an, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God."
Exodus 1:11
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Par`oh: Pitom and Ra`meses.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when thou sendest him out free from thee,.... When he discharged him from his servitude, and made him a free man:

thou shall not let him go away empty; without anything to support himself, or to put himself in a way of business; he having in the time of his servitude worked entirely for his master, and so could not have got and saved anything for himself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 15:13. Thou shalt not let him go away empty — Because during the time he served thee, he made no property for himself, having been always honest towards thee; and now when he leaves thee, he has nothing to begin the world with.


 
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