The Year of Release
1 At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. 2 This 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. 3 Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. 4 However 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) 5 if only you diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today. 6 For 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. 7 If 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; 8 but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. 9 Beware 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. 10 You 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. 11 For 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. 12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves 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, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. 16 It shall be, if he tells 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 female servant you shall do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do. 19 You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh shall choose, you and your household. 21 If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. 22 You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Debts end every seventh year, and the law legislates against the calculation a lender would make in the sixth.
Every seventh year, debts are canceled. Every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor Deuteronomy 15:2.
The consequence is obvious to anyone who has lent money, and the law names it before a lender can. Beware 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 Deuteronomy 15:9.
That is a remarkable piece of legislation. It anticipates the rational response to its own provision — that credit dries up as the release approaches — and forbids the calculation itself. The man refused is told to cry to Yahweh against you, and the refusal is called sin.
Two statements about poverty sit in the same chapter and appear to contradict each other. There will be no poor with you Deuteronomy 15:4. And: the poor will never cease out of the land Deuteronomy 15:11.
The first has a condition attached in the next verse — if only you diligently listen. It describes what the arrangement would produce if it were kept. The second describes what will actually happen, and both are true at once: the system is capable of ending destitution, and it will not be kept, so the command to open the hand stands permanently. The Lord quotes the second half when the same tension arises again Mark 14:7.
The manner of giving is specified as carefully as the amount. You shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand Deuteronomy 15:7. Lend sufficient for his need, which he lacks Deuteronomy 15:8 — the measure is the man's need, not the lender's convenience. And your heart shall not be grieved when you give Deuteronomy 15:10. Reluctant help is contemplated and rejected.
The release of slaves follows the same seven-year rhythm, and the striking clause is about the leaving.
When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty Deuteronomy 15:13. He is to be furnished liberally from the flock, the threshing floor and the wine press Deuteronomy 15:14 — sent out with capital rather than merely released into poverty, which is what makes freedom mean anything.
The reason is the book's usual one: you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you Deuteronomy 15:15. Israel left Egypt loaded with goods, and is told to send its own servants out the same way.
The closing note answers an objection nobody voiced. It should not seem hard, because six years of service was worth double the value of a hired hand Deuteronomy 15:18.
settled What this mark means