Ver. 5 Only if thou carefully hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, &c.] In his word, and by his prophets; this being the case, there would be no more poor among them, or however they would be so blessed of God, that they would be capable of releasing the debts of the poor, without hurting themselves and their families:
to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day; a phrase often used to put them in mind of the commands of God, and the necessity of keeping them, their temporal happiness depending thereon.
3
You are allowed to demand payment from foreigners, but whatever is owed you from your fellow Israelites you must forgive.
4
Of course there won't be any poor persons among you because the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,
5
but only if you carefully obey the LORD your God's voice, by carefully doing every bit of this commandment that I'm giving you right now.
6
Once the LORD your God has blessed you, exactly as he said he would, you will end up lending to many different peoples but won't need to borrow a thing. You will dominate many different peoples, but they won't dominate you.
7
Now if there are some poor persons among you, say one of your fellow Israelites in one of your cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, don't be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward your poor fellow Israelites.