“We promise not to work on the Sabbath day. If the people living around us bring grain or other things to sell on the Sabbath, we won’t buy those things on that special day or on any other holiday. Every seventh year, {\cf2\super [60]} we won’t plant or work the land. And every seventh year, we will cancel every debt that other people owe to us.\par
I said to your ancestors: ‘At the end of every seven years, each person must set his Hebrew slaves free. If you have a fellow Hebrew that has sold himself to you, you must let him go free after he has served you for six years.’ But your ancestors didn’t listen to me or pay attention to me.
This is the way you must do this: Every person that has lent money to another Israelite must cancel that debt. He should not ask a brother (an Israelite) to pay back that debt. Why? Because the Lord said to cancel debts during that year.
“Don’t ever refuse to help someone simply because the seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near. Don’t let an evil thought like that enter your mind. You must never have bad thoughts about a person that needs help. You must not refuse to help him. If you don’t help that poor person, then he will complain to the Lord against you. And the Lord will find you guilty of sin.