Deuteronomy 15

The Year for Canceling Debts

1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.
4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
6 For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.
8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.
10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Freeing Servants

12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.
13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed.
14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,
17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

The Firstborn Animals

19 Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose.
21 If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.
23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

The year of release. (1-11) Concerning the release of servants. (12-18) Respecting the firstlings of cattle. (19-23)

Verses 1-11 This year of release typified the grace of the gospel, in which is proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord; and by which we obtain the release of our debts, that is, the pardon of our sins. The law is spiritual, and lays restraints upon the thoughts of the heart. We mistake, if we think thoughts are free from God's knowledge and check. That is a wicked heart indeed, which raises evil thoughts from the good law of God, as theirs did, who, because God had obliged them to the charity of forgiving, denied the charity of giving. Those who would keep from the act of sin, must keep out of their minds the very thought of sin. It is a dreadful thing to have the cry of the poor justly against us. Grudge not a kindness to thy brother; distrust not the providence of God. What thou doest, do freely, ( 2 Corinthians. 9:7 )

Verses 12-18 Here the law concerning Hebrew servants is repeated. There is an addition, requiring the masters to put some small stock into their servants' hands to set up with for themselves, when sent out of their servitude, wherein they had received no wages. We may expect family blessings, the springs of family prosperity, when we make conscience of our duty to our family relations. We are to remember that we are debtors to Divine justice, and have nothing to pay with. That we are slaves, poor, and perishing. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by becoming poor, and by shedding his blood, has made a full and free provision for the payment of our debts, the ransom of our souls, and the supply of all our wants. When the gospel is clearly preached, the acceptable year of the Lord is proclaimed; the year of release of our debts, of the deliverance of our souls, and of obtaining rest in him. And as faith in Christ and love to him prevail, they will triumph over the selfishness of the heart, and over the unkindness of the world, doing away the excuses that rise from unbelief, distrust, and covetousness.

Verses 19-23 Here is a direction what to do with the firstlings. We are not now limited as the Israelites were; we make no difference between a first calf, or lamb, and the rest. Let us then look to the gospel meaning of this law, devoting ourselves and the first of our time and strength to God; and using all our comforts and enjoyments to his praise, and under the direction of his law, as we have them all by his gift.

Cross References 28

  • 1. Deuteronomy 31:10; Nehemiah 10:31
  • 2. S Genesis 31:15; Deuteronomy 23:20; Deuteronomy 28:12; Ruth 2:10
  • 3. Deuteronomy 28:8
  • 4. S Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 28:1
  • 5. Dt 28:12-13,44
  • 6. ver 11; Matthew 26:11
  • 7. 1 John 3:17
  • 8. Matthew 5:42; Luke 6:34; S Acts 24:17
  • 9. ver 1
  • 10. Matthew 20:15
  • 11. S Exodus 22:23; S Job 5:15; James 5:4; Deuteronomy 24:15
  • 12. 2 Corinthians 9:5
  • 13. S Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 24:19
  • 14. S ver 7
  • 15. Matthew 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8
  • 16. Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:39; Jeremiah 34:14
  • 17. S Numbers 18:27
  • 18. Exodus 13:3; Jeremiah 34:13; Deuteronomy 5:15
  • 19. Exodus 20:2; S Deuteronomy 4:34; S Deuteronomy 9:26; Deuteronomy 16:12; Deuteronomy 24:18; Jeremiah 16:14; Jeremiah 23:7
  • 20. S Leviticus 27:9
  • 21. S Exodus 13:2
  • 22. S Genesis 4:4
  • 23. S Exodus 22:30
  • 24. S Leviticus 7:15-18; Dt 12:5-7,17,18; Deuteronomy 14:23
  • 25. S Exodus 12:5
  • 26. S Leviticus 22:19-25; Deuteronomy 17:1; Malachi 1:8,13
  • 27. S Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 12:15,22
  • 28. S Genesis 9:4; Deuteronomy 12:16; Ezekiel 33:25

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 15

This chapter treats of a release of debts every seventh year, to which a blessing is promised if attended to, De 15:1-6, which seventh year of release should not hinder lending to a poor man in distress, even though it was nigh at hand, De 15:7-11 and of letting servants go free, whether manservant or maidservant, at the end of six years' servitude, De 15:12-15 but if unwilling to go, and desirous of staying, must have his ear bored through with an awl, and serve to the year of jubilee, De 15:16-18 and of sanctifying and eating the firstlings of the herd and flock where the Lord directs, De 15:19-23.

Deuteronomy 15 Commentaries

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