The law of the seventh year of remission. The firstlings of cattle are to be sanctified to the Lord.

¹ “In the seventh year, you shall perform a remission,

² which shall be celebrated according to this order. Anyone to whom anything is owed, by his friend or neighbor or brother, will not be able to request its return, because it is the year of remission of the Lord.

³ From the sojourner and the new arrival, you may require its return. From your fellow countryman and neighbor, you will not have the power to request its return.

⁴ And there shall not be anyone indigent or begging among you, so that the Lord your God may bless you in the land which he will deliver to you as a possession.¹

1. 15:4There shall be no poor, etc: It is not to be understood as a promise, that there should be no poor in Israel, as appears from ver. 11, where we learn that God’s people would never be at a loss to find objects for their charity: but it is an ordinance that all should do their best endeavours to prevent any of their brethren from suffering the hardships of poverty and want.(Challoner)

⁵ But only if you heed the voice of the Lord your God, and keep to all that he has ordered, that which I am entrusting to you this day, will he bless you, just as he has promised.

⁶ You shall lend money to many nations, and you yourselves shall borrow in return from no one. You shall rule over very many nations, and no one shall rule over you.

⁷ If one of your brothers, who dwells within the gates of your city, in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, falls into poverty, you shall not harden your heart, nor tighten your hand.

⁸ Instead, you shall open your hand to the poor, and you shall lend to him whatever you perceive him to need.

⁹ Take care, lest perhaps an impious thought might creep within you, and you might say in your heart: ‘The seventh year of remission approaches.’ And so you might turn your eyes away from your poor brother, unwilling to lend to him what he has asked. If so, then he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it will be a sin for you.

¹⁰ Instead, you shall give to him. Neither shall you do anything craftily while assisting him in his needs, so that the Lord your God may bless you, at all times and in all things to which you will put your hand.

¹¹ The poor will not be absent from the land of your habitation. For this reason, I instruct you to open your hand to your indigent and poor brother, who lives among you in the land.

¹² When your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, has been sold to you, and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you shall set him free.¹

1. 15:12Notice that the term brother is to be taken broadly, applying to men and women. Also, this does not refer to slavery, but to indentured servitude. This type of indentured servitude was necessary because there were few jobs and few occupations. If one did not have land or family to depend upon, one would need to attach one’s self to a landowner. A six year term of work was job security, at a time and in a culture with no police, nor hospitals, no government assistance programs for the poor. One could easily die without such an indentured servitude. This is also why the option to stay on permanently was offered, because there may be few other opportunities in that society at that time, and many dangers for those who would be on their own.(Conte)

¹³ And when you grant his freedom, you shall by no means permit him to go away empty.

¹⁴ Instead, you shall give to him, for his journey, from your flocks and threshing floor and winepress, with which the Lord your God has blessed you.

¹⁵ Remember that you yourself also served in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God set you free. And therefore, I now command this of you.

¹⁶ But if he will say, ‘I am not willing to depart,’ because he loves you and your household, and because he feels that it would be good for him to stay with you,

¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and pierce his ear, at the door of your house. And he shall serve you even forever. You shall also act similarly toward your woman servant.

¹⁸ You should not avert your eyes from them when you set them free, because he has served you for six years, in a manner deserving of the pay of a hired hand. So may the Lord your God bless you in all the works that you do.

¹⁹ Of the firstborn, those born from your herds and sheep, you shall sanctify to the Lord your God whatever is of the male sex. You shall not put the firstborn of the oxen to work, nor shall you shear the firstborn of the sheep.

²⁰ In the sight of the Lord your God, you shall eat these, each year, in the place which the Lord will choose, you and your household.

²¹ But if it has a blemish, or is lame, or is blind, or if it is in any part deformed or debilitated, it shall not be immolated to the Lord your God.

²² Instead, you shall eat it within the gates of your city. The clean as well as the unclean alike shall feed on these, such as the roe deer and the stag.

²³ This alone shall you observe: that you do not eat their blood, but pour it upon the ground like water.”