Sabbath Year a Year of Release
Every seven years is a Sabbath year, it is considered holy unto the Lord, and like the Sabbath, a rest is to be observed. Only it is a Sabbath for the land. It is observed by the ceasing all farming for one year to allow the land a chance to rest and rejuvenate itself.(Ex 23:10-11) And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.( Lev 25:3-7) Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.(De 15:1-3) At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord's release.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
