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Exodus 23:10-11
“ For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
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Leviticus 23:3
“‘ There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.
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Nehemiah 13:15-22
In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day.People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them,“ What is this wicked thing you are doing— desecrating the Sabbath day?Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day.Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.But I warned them and said,“ Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
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Exodus 20:10
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
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Isaiah 58:6
“ Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
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Nehemiah 5:1-13
Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews.Some were saying,“ We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”Others were saying,“ We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”Still others were saying,“ We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them,“ You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with themand said:“ As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.So I continued,“ What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest!Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them— one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”“ We will give it back,” they said.“ And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.I also shook out the folds of my robe and said,“ In this way may God shake out of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be shaken out and emptied!” At this the whole assembly said,“ Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
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2 Chronicles 36 21
The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
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Leviticus 25:1-7
The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,“ Speak to the Israelites and say to them:‘ When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord.For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you— for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
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James 2:13
because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
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Matthew 18:27-35
The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.“ But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him.‘ Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.“ His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him,‘ Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’“ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.“ Then the master called the servant in.‘ You wicked servant,’ he said,‘ I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.“ This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
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Leviticus 16:29
“ This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work— whether native- born or a foreigner residing among you—
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Deuteronomy 15:7-9
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought:“ The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.
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Deuteronomy 15:1-3
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.
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Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
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Leviticus 23:35-36
The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.
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Exodus 12:16
On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
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Leviticus 23:21
On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
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Jeremiah 17:21-22
This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
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Colossians 2:16
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
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Deuteronomy 5:12-14
“ Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.Six days you shall labor and do all your work,but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
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Isaiah 58:13-14
“ If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.