Deuteronomy 15

The Sabbatical Year

1 "At the end of a every seven years you shall grant a 1 release of debts. 2 "And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall 2 release it; he shall not 3 require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the LORD's release. 3 "Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, 4 "except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly b bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance - 5 "only if you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. 6 "For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; c you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

7 "If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the 4 gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, d you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, 8 "but e you shall 5 open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. 9 "Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your f eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and g he cry out to the LORD against you, and h it become sin among you. 10 "You shall surely give to him, and i your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because j for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. 11 "For k the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall 6 open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.'

12 l "If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is m sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 "And when you 7 send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 "you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD has n blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 o "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 thing today. 16 "And p if it happens that he says to you, 'I will not go away from you,' because he loves you and your house, since he prospers 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 send him away free from you; for he has been worth q a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 r "All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall 8 sanctify to the LORD your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 s "You and your household shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD chooses. 21 t "But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22 "You may eat it within your gates; u the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 "Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.

  1. Cross References
    Exodus 21:2
    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
    Exodus 23:10
    Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce.
    Exodus 23:11
    But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.
    Leviticus 25:4
    But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
    Jeremiah 34:14
    At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you." But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:13
    And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.
  3. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:12
    The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
    Deuteronomy 28:44
    He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 23:6
    You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.
    Leviticus 25:35 - 37
    If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
    Deuteronomy 24:12 - 14
    And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.
    1 John 3:17
    But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
  5. Cross References
    Matthew 5:42
    Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
    Galatians 2:10
    They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:54
    The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind.
    Deuteronomy 28:56
    The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter.
  7. Cross References
    Exodus 22:23
    If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry.
    Deuteronomy 24:15
    Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.
    Job 34:28
    So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him; For He hears the cry of the afflicted.
    Psalms 12:5
    "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he yearns."
    James 5:4
    Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
  8. Cross References
    Matthew 25:41
    Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
    Matthew 25:42
    For I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink.
  9. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 9:5
    Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
    2 Corinthians 9:7
    So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 14:29
    And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
    Psalms 41:1
    Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
    Proverbs 22:9
    He who has a generous eye will be blessed, For he gives of his bread to the poor.
  11. Cross References
    Matthew 26:11
    For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.
    Mark 14:7
    For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.
    John 12:8
    "For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."
  12. Cross References
    Exodus 21:2 - 6
    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
    Jeremiah 34:14
    At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you." But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
  13. Cross References
    Leviticus 25:39 - 46
    And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave.
  14. Cross References
    Proverbs 10:22
    The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.
  15. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 5:15
    And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 21:5
    "But if the servant plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'
    Exodus 21:6
    Then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 16:14
    But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.
  18. Cross References
    Exodus 13:2
    "Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine."
    Exodus 13:12
    That you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD's.
  19. Cross References
    Leviticus 7:15 - 18
    The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning.
    Deuteronomy 12:5
    But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
    Deuteronomy 14:23
    And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
  20. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:19 - 25
    You shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats.
    Deuteronomy 17:1
    You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
  21. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:15
    However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike.
    Deuteronomy 12:16
    Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water.
    Deuteronomy 12:22
    Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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