Deuteronomy 15:1

Complete Jewish Bible

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

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.

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.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Every seven years 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 (vi) "At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh'mittah. ² Here is how the sh'mittah is to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community — he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, because Adonai 's time of remission has been proclaimed. ³ You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you. ⁴ In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because Adonai will certainly bless you in the land which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess — ⁵ if only you will listen carefully to what Adonai your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today. ⁶ Yes, Adonai your God will bless you, as he promised you — you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you. ⁷ "If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which Adonai your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother. ⁸ No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants. ⁹ Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh'mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to Adonai against you, and it will be your sin. ¹⁰ Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, Adonai your God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake —

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
Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great."

Genesis 15:2
Avram replied, " Adonai , God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions?

Genesis 15:3
You haven't given me a child," Avram continued, "so someone born in my house will be my heir."

Genesis 15:4
But the word of Adonai came to him: "This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body."

Genesis 15:5
Then he brought him outside and said, "Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!"

Genesis 15:6
He believed in Adonai , and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:10
He brought him all these, cut the animals in two and placed the pieces opposite each other; but he didn't cut the birds in half.

Genesis 15:14
But I will also judge that nation, the one that makes them slaves. Afterwards, they will leave with many possessions.

Genesis 15:16
Only in the fourth generation will your descendants come back here, because only then will the Emori be ripe for punishment."

Genesis 15:17
After the sun had set and there was thick darkness, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared, which passed between these animal parts.

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