The Sabbatical Year

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.

And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.

Be careful that there is no mean-spirited thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you.

Various Laws

“No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s means of life as a pledge.

Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the release of debts, at the Feast of Booths,