The Sabbatical Year

Deuteronomy 15

1 "At the end of j every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3 k Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 l But there will be no poor among you; m for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess - 5 n if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, o as he promised you, and p you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and q you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

7 "If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, r you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but s you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, 'The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your t eye look grudgingly 1 on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he u cry to the Lord against you, and v you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and w your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because x for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For y there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, s 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'

12 z "If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold 2 to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. a As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 b You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But c if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 d "All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 e You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 f But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. g The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 h Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

  1. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 31:10
    And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths.
    Nehemiah 10:31
    And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
    Deuteronomy 15:12
    If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
    Exodus 23:10 - 11
    For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield.
    Leviticus 25:2 - 4
    Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 23:20
    You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
  3. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 15:11
    For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.
  4. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:8
    The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:1
    And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:13
    He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
    Exodus 23:25
    You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:12
    The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
    Deuteronomy 28:44
    He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
  8. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:13
    And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them.
    1 Kings 4:21
    Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
    1 Kings 4:24
    For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him.
    Ezra 4:20
    And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.
    Proverbs 22:7
    The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
  9. Cross References
    1 John 3:17
    But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
  10. Cross References
    Leviticus 25:35
    If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
    Matthew 5:42
    Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
    Luke 6:34 - 35
    And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
  11. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:54
    The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left.
    Deuteronomy 28:56
    The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter.
    Proverbs 23:6
    Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies.
    Proverbs 28:22
    A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.
    Matthew 20:15
    Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?
  12. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 24:15
    You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
  13. Cross References
    Matthew 25:41 - 42
    Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
  14. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 9:7
    Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
  15. Cross References
    Proverbs 28:27
    Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.
    Deuteronomy 14:29
    And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
  16. Cross References
    Matthew 26:11
    For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
    Mark 14:7
    For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.
    John 12:8
    For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 15:8
    But you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
  18. Cross References
    Exodus 21:2
    When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.
    Jeremiah 34:14
    At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.' But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.
    Leviticus 25:39 - 41
    If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave:
  19. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 8:18
    You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
    Deuteronomy 16:17
    Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
  20. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 5:15
    You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
  21. Cross References
    Exodus 21:5 - 6
    But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.
  22. Cross References
    Exodus 13:2
    "Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine."
  23. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:7
    And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
    Deuteronomy 14:23
    And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
    Deuteronomy 14:26
    And spend the money for whatever you desire - oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
  24. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:20
    You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you.
  25. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:15
    However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.
  26. Cross References
    Leviticus 3:17
    It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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