Deuteronomy 15:1

Brenton's Septuagint

Every seven years thou shalt make a release.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

Hebrew Names Version
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

King James Version
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

Lexham English Bible
"At the end of seven years you shall grant a remission of debt.

English Standard Version
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.

New Century Version
At the end of every seven years, you must tell those who owe you anything that they do not have to pay you back.

New English Translation
At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts.

Amplified Bible
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release (remission, pardon) from debt.

New American Standard Bible
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

Geneva Bible (1587)
At the terme of seuen yeeres thou shalt make a freedome.

Legacy Standard Bible
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.

Contemporary English Version
Moses said: Every seven years you must announce, "The Lord says loans do not need to be paid back." Then if you have loaned money to another Israelite, you can no longer ask for payment.

Complete Jewish Bible
(vi) "At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh'mittah.

Darby Translation
At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release,

Easy-to-Read Version
"At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts.

George Lamsa Translation
AT the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

Good News Translation
"At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.

Literal Translation
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
In the seueth yeare shalt thou make a Fre yeare. This is ye maner of the Fre yeare.

American Standard Version
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

Bible in Basic English
At the end of every seven years there is to be a general forgiveness of debt.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
At the terme of seuen yeres, thou shalt make a freedome.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

King James Version (1611)
At the end of euery seuen yeeres thou shalt make a release.

English Revised Version
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

Berean Standard Bible
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In the seuenthe yeer thou schalt make remyssioun,

Young's Literal Translation
`At the end of seven years thou dost make a release,

Update Bible Version
At the end of every seven year period you shall make a release.

Webster's Bible Translation
At the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a release.

World English Bible
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

New King James Version
Exodus 21:1-11; Leviticus 25:1-7">[xr] "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

New Living Translation
"At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money.

New Life Bible
"At the end of every seven years you must do away with debts that are owed.

New Revised Standard
Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
At the end of seven years, shalt thou make a release.

Douay-Rheims Bible
In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission,

Revised Standard Version
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.

THE MESSAGE
At the end of every seventh year, cancel all debts. This is the procedure: Everyone who has lent money to a neighbor writes it off. You must not press your neighbor or his brother for payment: All-Debts-Are-Canceled— God says so. You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.

Contextual Overview

¹ Every seven years thou shalt make a release. ² And this is the ordinance of the release: thou shalt remit every private debt which thy neighbour owes thee, and thou shalt not ask payment of it from thy brother; for it has been called a release to the Lord thy God. ³ Of a stranger thou shalt ask again whatsoever he has of thine, but to thy brother thou shalt remit his debt to thee. ⁴ For thus there shall not be a poor person in the midst of thee, for the Lord thy God will surely bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God gives thee by inheritance, that thou shouldest inherit it. ⁵ And if ye shall indeed hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep and do all these commandments, as many as I charge thee this day, ⁶ (for the Lord thy God has blessed thee in the way of which he spoke to thee,)then thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. ⁷ And if there shall be in the midst of thee a poor man of thy brethren in one of thy cities in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, neither shalt thou by any means close up thine hand from thy brother who is in want. ⁸ Thou shalt surely open thine hands to him, and shalt lend to him as much as he wants according to his need. ⁹ Take heed to thyself that there be not a secret thing in thine heart, an iniquity, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, draws nigh; and thine eye shall be evil to thy brother that is in want, and thou shalt not give to him, and he shall cry against thee to the Lord, and there shall be great sin in thee. ¹⁰ Thou shalt surely give to him, and thou shalt lend him as much as he wants, according as he is in need; and thou shalt not grudge in thine heart as thou givest to him, because on this account the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all things on which thou shalt lay thine hand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 31:10, Exodus 21:2, Exodus 23:10, Exodus 23:11, Leviticus 25:2-4, Isaiah 61:1-3, Jeremiah 36:8-18, Luke 4:18, Luke 4:19

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 15:12 - General Nehemiah 10:31 - the exaction

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
And after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I shield thee, thy reward shall be very great.

Genesis 15:2
And Abram said, Master and Lord, what wilt thou give me? whereas I am departing without a child, but the son of Masek my home-born female slave, this Eliezer of Damascus is mine heir.

Genesis 15:3
And Abram said, I am grieved since thou hast given me no seed, but my home-born servant shall succeed me.

Genesis 15:4
And immediately there was a voice of the Lord to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come out of thee shall be thine heir.

Genesis 15:5
And he brought him out and said to him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars, if thou shalt be able to number them fully, and he said, Thus shall thy seed be.

Genesis 15:6
And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:10
So he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and set them opposite to each other, but the birds he did not divide.

Genesis 15:14
And the nation whomsoever they shall serve I will judge; and after this, they shall come forth hither with much property.

Genesis 15:16
And in the fourth generation they shall return hither, for the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up, even until now.

Genesis 15:17
And when the sun was about to set, there was a flame, and behold a smoking furnace and lamps of fire, which passed between these divided pieces.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. Not of servants, for they were not to be dismissed from their service until they had served six years, as is directed to in a following law; for if they were to be set free whenever a sabbatical year came, they might be discharged when they had not served more than a year, or than half a year, or than a month or two. Indeed when the year of jubilee intervened, they were released be it at what time it would; but not in a sabbatical year, which was a year of release of debts, as the following verses show, as well as there was, then a rest of the land from tillage, Leviticus 25:2. Now this was done at the end or extremity of every seventh year; not at the latter end or extremity of it, for if the debt of a poor man might be exacted of him in the year, and until the end of it, it would not in this respect have been a sabbatical year, or a year of rest and quiet; but this was done at the first extremity of it, at the beginning of it, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech observe; though Maimonides b asserts it to be after the seven years were ended; for he says,

"the seventh year releaseth not monies but at the end of it,''

according to Deuteronomy 15:1 that as in Deuteronomy 31:10 after seven years is meant, so the release of monies is after seven years.

b Hilchot Shemittah & Yobel, c. 9. sect. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The year of release is no doubt identical with the sabbatical year of the earlier legislation (Exodus 23:10 ff, and Leviticus 25:2 ff), the command of the older legislation being here amplified. The release was probably for the year, not total and final, and had reference only to loans lent because of poverty (compare Deuteronomy 15:4, Deuteronomy 15:7). Yet even so the law was found to be too stringent for the avarice of the people, because it was one of those which the rabbis “made of none effect by their traditions.”

Deuteronomy 15:2

Because it is called the Lord’s release - Render, because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release. The verb is impersonal, and implies (compare Deuteronomy 31:10) that “the solemnity of the year of release” has been publicly announced.

Deuteronomy 15:3

The foreigner would not be bound by the restriction of the sabbatical year, and therefore would have no claim to its special remissions and privileges. He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt anymore in the one than the others.

Deuteronomy 15:4

There is no inconsistency between this and Deuteronomy 15:11. The meaning seems simply to be, “Thou must release the debt for the year, except when there be no poor person concerned, a contingency which may happen, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee.” The general object of these precepts, as also of the year of Jubilee and the laws respecting inheritance, is to prevent the total ruin of a needy person, and his disappearance from the families of Israel by the sale of his patrimony.

Deuteronomy 15:9

literally: “Beware that there be not in thy heart a word which is worthlessness” (compare Deuteronomy 13:13 note).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XV

The Sabbatical year of release, 1.

The manner in which this release shall take place, 2-5.

Of lending to the poor, and the disposition in which it should

be done, 6-11.

Of the Hebrew servant who has served six years, and who shall be

dismissed well furnished, 12-15.

The ceremony of boring the ear, when the servant wishes to

continue with his master, 16-18.

Of the firstlings of the flock and herd, 19, 20.

Nothing shall be offered that has any blemish, 21.

The sacrifice to be eaten both by the clean and unclean, except

the blood, which is never to be eaten, but poured out upon the

ground, 22, 23.

NOTES ON CHAP. XV

Verse Deuteronomy 15:1. At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release — For an explanation of many things in this chapter, see the notes on Exodus 21:0 and Exodus 23:0, and Leviticus 25:0