Deuteronomy 15:1-6·~1 min

The Seventh Year

Every seventh year brings a formal remission of debts among Israelite neighbors, though debts from foreigners may still be collected. The release is defined as an act proclaimed in the LORD’s time.

A¹t the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. ²This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. ³You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

The command is tied to the hope that there need be no poor among the people, since the LORD promises blessing in the land if Israel obeys. That blessing grows into strength, lending, and freedom from subjection.

⁴There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, ⁵if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. ⁶When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.

Section summaryThe chapter opens with the seventh-year release of debts, where creditors loosen their claim on fellow Israelites because the LORD has proclaimed release. The command looks toward a land marked by obedience, blessing, and freedom from poverty rather than permanent extraction.

Role in the chapterThis section sets the chapter’s governing pattern: blessing in the land is meant to flow outward through release. It establishes mercy, not accumulation, as the proper shape of covenant economics.