# Deuteronomy 15 📖: The Year of Release [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 14]] | [[Deuteronomy 16]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Year of Debt Release [[#Verse 01.]] At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts.  [[#Verse 02.]] This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”  [[#Verse 03.]] You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit.  [[#Verse 04.]] However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land that he is giving you as an inheritance,  [[#Verse 05.]] if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.  [[#Verse 06.]] For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you. ### The Spirit of Liberality [[#Verse 07.]] If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive to his impoverished condition.  [[#Verse 08.]] Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs.  [[#Verse 09.]] Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be regarded as having sinned.  [[#Verse 10.]] You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt.  [[#Verse 11.]] There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land. ### Release of Debt Slaves [[#Verse 12.]] If your fellow Hebrew—whether male or female—is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free. [[#Verse 13.]] If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.  [[#Verse 14.]] You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress—as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them.  [[#Verse 15.]] Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today.  [[#Verse 16.]] However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,  [[#Verse 17.]] you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door.Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).  [[#Verse 18.]] You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. ### Giving God the Best [[#Verse 19.]] You must set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks.  [[#Verse 20.]] You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he chooses.  [[#Verse 21.]] If one of them has any kind of blemish—lameness, blindness, or anything else—you may not offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God.  [[#Verse 22.]] You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.  [[#Verse 23.]] However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The seventh year of release is called *shemittah* in Hebrew. 2. Verse 4 says there need be no poor among them, while verse 11 admits the poor will always be in the land. 3. Jesus echoed 15:11 when He said the poor will always be with us (Mark 14:7). 4. The early church lived out 15:4 when there was no needy person among them (Acts 4:34). 5. Debts owed by foreigners could still be collected (15:3). 6. Later Jewish teachers, associated with Hillel, created a legal workaround called the *prozbul* so loans would still be made near the seventh year. 7. A Hebrew servant was released after six years (15:12; Exodus 21:2). 8. A servant who chose to stay had his ear pierced with an awl at the door (15:16-17; Exodus 21:5-6). 9. Moses says a servant's work was worth twice that of a hired worker (15:18). 10. Firstborn animals with defects were not to be sacrificed but eaten at home (15:21-22). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who proclaims the Lord's release. The seventh-year cancellation of debts (15:1-2) points to Jesus, who came to proclaim freedom for the captives (Luke 4:18-19) and canceled the debt that stood against us (Colossians 2:13-14). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God tells His people not to be hardhearted or tightfisted toward the poor (15:7-8). What keeps us from open-handed generosity? 2. Released servants were to be sent away with generous gifts (15:13-14). What would it look like to give generously, not just fairly? 3. Israel was to remember they were slaves in Egypt (15:15). How does remembering your redemption shape the way you treat others? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 1-2: Every seventh year debts are canceled as the Lord's release. - 📖 verses 7-8: Do not harden your heart; open your hand to the poor. - 📖 verse 15: Remember you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord redeemed you. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Luke 04#Verse 18.|Luke 4:18-19]] - Jesus proclaims release to the captives. - 🔗 [[Acts 04#Verse 32.|Acts 4:32-35]] - There was no needy person among them. - 🔗 [[Mark 14#Verse 07.|Mark 14:7]] - The poor will always be with you. - 🔗 [[Exodus 21#Verse 02.|Exodus 21:2-6]] - The law of the Hebrew servant. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 09#Verse 07.|2 Corinthians 9:7]] - God loves a cheerful giver. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes