The poor you always have

¹Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

²So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

³Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

⁴Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

⁵“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

⁶Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

⁷But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

¹At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts.

²This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed.

³Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.

⁴However there will be no poor with you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess)

⁵if only you diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today.

⁶For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

⁸but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.

⁹Beware that there not 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 to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.

¹⁰You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.

¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.