Deuteronomy 15:7-11
The Lord's redeemed people must not let fear of loss harden their hearts against the poor, but must open their hands freely because covenant blessing is received under God's ownership and mercy.
7 If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;
8 but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.
9 Beware 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 Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.
10 You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.
11 For 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.
The LORD's redeemed people must not let fear of loss harden their hearts against the poor, but must open their hands freely because covenant blessing is received under God's ownership and mercy.
Moses commands Israel not to harden the heart or close the hand against a poor fellow Israelite, especially when the approaching seventh-year release might tempt a lender to withhold help. The passage presses covenant mercy into ordinary economic life by requiring generous, ungrudging provision for the needy in the land the LORD gives.
This command belongs within Moses' renewed covenant instruction for Israel on the plains of Moab before entry into Canaan. It follows the seventh-year release command and clarifies that the coming release must not become an excuse for refusing aid to the poor before the year arrives.
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.