The Wilderness Years

Because there shall be euer some poore in the land, therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand vnto thy brother, to thy needie, and to thy poore in thy land.

If thy brother an Ebrewe sell himselfe to thee, or an Ebrewesse, and serue thee sixe yeere, euen in the seuenth yeere thou shalt let him goe free from thee:

And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him goe away emptie,

But shalt giue him a liberall reward of thy sheepe, and of thy corne, and of thy wine: thou shalt giue him of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

And remember that thou wast a seruant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God deliuered thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

And if he say vnto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loueth thee and thine house, and because he is well with thee,

Then shalt thou take a naule, and perce his eare through against the doore, and he shall be thy seruant for euer: and vnto thy maid seruant thou shall doe likewise.

Let it not grieue thee, when thou lettest him goe out free from thee: for he hath serued thee sixe yeeres, which is the double worth of an hired seruant: and the Lord thy God shall blesse thee in all that thou doest.

All the first borne males that come of thy cattell, and of thy sheepe, thou shalt sanctifie vnto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no worke with thy first borne bullocke, nor sheare thy first borne sheepe.

Thou shalt eate it before the Lord thy God yeere by yeere, in the place which the Lord shall chose, both thou, and thine household.

But if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or haue any euill fault, thou shalt not offer it vnto the Lord thy God,

But shalt eate it within thy gates: the vncleane, and the cleane shall eate it alike, as the roe bucke, and as the hart.

Onely thou shalt not eate the blood thereof, but powre it vpon the ground as water.

Thou shalt keepe the moneth of Abib, and thou shalt celebrate the Passeouer vnto the Lord thy God: for in the moneth of Abib ye Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night.

Thou shalt therefore offer the Passeouer vnto the Lord thy God, of sheepe and bullockes in the place where the Lord shall chose to cause his Name to dwell.

Thou shalt eate no leauened bread with it: but seuen dayes shalt thou eate vnleauened bread therewith, euen the bread of tribulation: for thou camest out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou maist remember ye day whe thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all the dayes of thy life.

And there shalbe no leauen seene with thee in all thy coastes seuen dayes long: neither shall there remaine the night any of the flesh vntil the morning which thou offeredst ye first day at euen.

Thou maist not offer ye Passeouer within any of thy gates, which ye Lord thy God giueth thee:

But in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his Name, there thou shalt offer the Passeouer at euen, about the going downe of the sunne, in the season that thou camest out of Egypt.

And thou shalt roste and eate it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and shalt returne on the morowe, and goe vnto thy tentes.

Six daies shalt thou eate vnleauened bread, and ye seuenth day shall be a solemne assemblie to ye Lord thy God thou shalt do no worke therein.

Seuen weekes shalt thou nomber vnto thee, and shalt beginne to nomber ye seuen weekes, when thou beginnest to put the sickel to ye corne:

And thou shalt keepe the feast of weekes vnto the Lord thy God, euen a free gift of thine hand, which thou shalt giue vnto the Lord thy God, as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

And thou shalt reioyce before the Lord thy God, thou and thy sonne, and thy daughter, and thy seruant, and thy maide, and the Leuite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherles, and the widowe, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse to place his Name there,

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a seruant in Egypt: therefore thou shalt obserue and doe these ordinances.