BibleService BibleService Read, Study & Search the Scriptures

Bible Study

Try an example:

WEB · Bible Study

Deuteronomy 15:1-23

← PreviousChapterNext →Read this passage
Deuteronomy 15:1 is part of this passage.
1At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. 2This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. 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 will be no poor with 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 a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you 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, which he lacks. 9Beware that there not 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 cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin to you. 10You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing 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. 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 slave 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 out 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. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 18It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for he has been double the value of a hired hand as he served you six years. 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 shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the deer. 23Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Read more

Summary

At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. Central worship, holy calendar, and care for the weak shape the land’s life.

Interpretation

In Deuteronomy 15:1-23, At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts The preacher wants us to see the covenant God who redeemed Israel and now summons them to love and obedience before the land. Listen to the text: “At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his…”

Worship at the chosen place, holy festivals, and open-handed justice form land life. Centralized praise and care for Levite, sojourner, orphan, and widow belong together.

Sabbatical release of debts and slaves enacts generosity so there be no poor among you—open hands mirror the God who redeemed from Egypt. In worship and justice texts, chosen place, festivals, and care for the weak order land life. This passage belongs in that movement: Deuteronomy 15:1-23 is not an isolated scrap but a step in God’s purpose to form a people who choose life. Deuteronomy is covenant preaching on the plains of Moab: remember grace, love the LORD, and choose life before entering the land.

A pastoral word for today: Give to someone vulnerable as festival joy and justice together.

Notice Deuteronomy’s pastoral urgency. Moses preaches so love and obedience outlast his voice. The book trains hurried readers to hear, remember, and choose. Let Deuteronomy 15:1-23 steady your pace enough to cling to the LORD without despair.

If Deuteronomy 15:1-23 feels technical, read it as love’s precision. God cares how worship is guarded, how leaders are limited, and how neighbors are protected; every detail serves presence, justice, or mercy.

As you sit with Deuteronomy 15:1-23, ask what it shows about the God who journeys with His people. Deuteronomy is living Scripture that forms trust, repentance, and hope—not a mere travel log. Let the text steady your confidence in the LORD’s faithful presence.

Context

Chapter 15 in Deuteronomy: Sabbatical release of debts and slaves enacts generosity so there be no poor among you—open hands mirror the God who redeemed from Egypt.

Worship and justice (Deuteronomy 12–16): chosen place, festivals, and care for the weak.

Audience

Communities ordering worship, calendar, and care for the weak

Themes

  • Worship
  • Justice
  • Holiness
  • Generosity

Keywords

cancel · creditor · release · neighbor · require · payment · brother · because