What Does Deuteronomy 15:2 Mean in the King James?

And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought 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.

Deuteronomy 15:2 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew names debt release as a letting-drop, and makes the creditor’s own hand the thing that releases it.

THE MEANING

When a neighbor’s debt falls under this release, the creditor relinquishes the claim instead of demanding repayment. The verse names that relinquishing as the LORD’s release, placing freedom from debt within God’s own order.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A rightful debt must always be pursued until it is paid.

THE ROOT

שְׁמִטָּה

shemittah

GROWS FROM

שׁמט

sh-m-ṭ

Let drop; release.

Here the noun is paired with the verb, and the phrase “his hand” makes the creditor’s hand the thing that drops its hold. The same root names a seventh-year release of the land, placing debt release within a wider letting-go.

ALSO GROWS

shamot: To let drop; release.

שָׁמֹט

This verb appears beside the noun in the Hebrew phrase for the release, making the creditor’s act of letting go part of the verse’s wording.

tishmetennah: You shall let it drop; release it.

תִּשְׁמְטֶנָּה

Exodus 23:11 uses this form for releasing the land in the seventh year, when the poor and the animals eat what grows.

THE PATTERN

Release interrupts a claim so that debt, land, or a person held under pressure can have room again.

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

Deuteronomy 15:1 · KJVThe release of debt is tied to a recurring interval, giving relinquishment a place within the ordering of life.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Leviticus 25:10 · KJVThe release restores people to land and family, loosening claims that keep them from what is theirs.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luke 4:18 · KJVThe same pattern appears as release from captivity and the return of sight to those who are bruised.

THE THREAD

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

Deuteronomy 15:3 · KJV

The root ⁨שׁמט⁩ (shamat, let drop or release) appears again in the command that the creditor’s hand release the debt. The verse also marks a boundary: the brother’s debt is released, while a foreigner’s debt may still be exacted.

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