Bible Study Deuteronomy 15
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Deuteronomy 15 · WEB

The Sabbath Year: Debt Cancellation, Generosity, and Freed Slaves

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At the end of every seven years you shall cancel debts.
2This is the manner of the release: every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed.
3Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release.
4However, there should be no poor among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess;
5if only you diligently listen to the LORD your God's voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today.
6For the LORD your God will bless you as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;
8but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he lacks.
9Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand," and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cries to the LORD against you, and it will be sin to you.
10You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this that the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.
11For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.
12If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
14You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.
16It shall be, if he tells you, "I will not go away from you," because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you,
17then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. You shall do likewise to your female servant.
18It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you; for he has served you six years with double the service of a hired hand. The LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
19You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
20You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.
21If it has any defect, is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as the gazelle and as the deer.
23Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground as water.
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Summary

Every seventh year, all debts owed by fellow Israelites are to be cancelled (the Sabbath year or shemitah). Moses warns against the temptation to stop lending as the seventh year approaches, commanding open-handed generosity with a striking acknowledgment: "the poor will never cease out of the land." Hebrew slaves are released after six years and sent out with generous provision — and this too is grounded in Israel's own memory of slavery and redemption in Egypt. The chapter concludes with laws on dedicating firstborn livestock to God. Together these laws construct an economy of grace and regular systemic reset.

Themes

  • Systemic economic justice: regular debt cancellation to prevent permanent poverty
  • Generosity rooted in memory of God's redemptive grace
  • The danger of a calculating heart that withholds help because "release is coming"
  • Humanizing treatment of servants and provision for their freedom
  • The firstborn dedicated to God as an acknowledgment of his ownership of all

Key verses

  • Deut 15:10 — “You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this that the LORD your God will bless you in all your work.”
  • Deut 15:11 — “For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.”
  • Deut 15:15 — “You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.”
  • Deut 15:7-8 — “You shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need.”

Context & background

The Sabbath year debt release (shemitah) was a radical economic institution in the ancient Near East, where debt slavery was common and the poor could fall into permanent servitude. This law was designed to prevent the permanent accumulation of wealth by the powerful and the permanent impoverishment of the vulnerable. In the first century, the Talmud records that the great rabbi Hillel created a legal workaround (prozbul) to allow debts to be transferred to a court so they wouldn't be cancelled — a sign that the law was taken seriously but sometimes undermined by the wealthy. Jesus' statement "the poor you will always have with you" (Matthew 26:11) directly quotes Deuteronomy 15:11 — not as a reason to ignore the poor but as a command to always be ready to help.

Cross-references

  • 2 Corinthians 9:7 — "God loves a cheerful giver" — the spirit of Deut 15:10
  • Leviticus 25:1-7 — The Sabbath year law for land rest
  • Leviticus 25:39-55 — Laws on Hebrew debt-slavery and release
  • Luke 4:18-19 — Jesus proclaims "the year of the Lord's favor" — echoing Jubilee/shemitah themes
  • Matthew 26:11 — Jesus quotes Deut 15:11: "The poor you will always have with you"

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What temptation does Moses warn against in verse 9?

  2. Observe

    What provision was required for a Hebrew slave being released (v. 14)?

  3. Interpret

    How can "there should be no poor among you" (v. 4) and "the poor will never cease" (v. 11) coexist?

  4. Interpret

    How does memory of Egyptian slavery function for generosity (v. 15)?

  5. Apply

    Have you withheld help because of calculating cost-benefit assessment?

  6. Apply

    What systemic practices prevent entrenched poverty in your community?

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