Deuteronomy 15:12-18
Redeemed people must not keep fellow covenant members in bondage for their own gain, but must release them generously because the Lord's redemption governs Israel's household economy.
12 If 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.
13 When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty.
14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.
16 It 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,
17 then 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.
18 It 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. Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.
Redeemed people must not keep fellow covenant members in bondage for their own gain, but must release them generously because the LORD's redemption governs Israel's household economy.
Moses commands Israel to release Hebrew male and female servants in the seventh year and not send them away empty-handed, grounding this practice in the LORD's redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The passage places servant release, generous provision, voluntary lifelong attachment, and blessing under the covenant memory of redemption.
This instruction is given to Israel on the plains of Moab before entering the land. It addresses household and economic life in the covenant community, where poverty could lead a Hebrew man or woman into service and where the seventh-year rhythm was designed to prevent permanent exploitation among fellow Israelites.
The Year of Release: Debt, Poverty, and the Generosity of a People Who Remember Egypt
The covenant community economic life must be shaped by the same grace it has received the seven-year debt release and the release of Hebrew slaves are not merely humanitarian policies but covenant practices that embody the LORD own character a God who releases the enslaved who commands open-handed generosity even when the release year approaches and who insists that there need be no poor among his people if they keep his word and lend generously remembering that they were slaves in Egypt whom the LORD released.