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what current economic practices might be considered contrary to the spirit of a debt release?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Deuteronomy 15:1-2

At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. This is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed.

This passage is from the book of Deuteronomy, part of a speech given by Moses to the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. It lays out laws for how they are to live together in their new society, including economic and social regulations.

What systems or personal choices today might perpetuate cycles of debt rather than offering pathways to release?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Leviticus 25:8-10

    This describes the Year of Jubilee, a larger cycle of release, including land return and freedom for slaves.

  • Nehemiah 5:1-11

    This account shows Nehemiah addressing economic injustice where people were forced into debt and servitude due to famine and taxes.

  • Matthew 6:12

    The Lord's Prayer includes a petition to 'forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,' linking spiritual and financial release.

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