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In the Bible, the sabbatical year ('Shemittah in Hebrew) was every seventh year, during which farm land had to remain uncultivated.1 This rule only applied to the "land of Israel", or areas directly controlled by the Hebrews.
Any natural produce of the land was not to be farmed, but instead left to be taken by poor folk, passing strangers, and beasts of the field. All debts, except those of foreigners, were to be deferred for the year.2
For some time it was accepted that all debts between the people of Israel were to be remitted, however, most modern commentators and scholars hold that such debts were to be suspended for the year. This practice was, presumably, instituted to prevent the resources of the debtor, already stretched thin due to the land lying fallow, being exhausted by the discharging of debts.
There is little notice of the observance of this year in Biblical history. It appears to have been much neglected.3 This statement in Chronicles 2 states that the first Temple was destroyed due to their not being an observance of the Sabbatical year.
According to some, the Sabbatical year is still enforced in Israel, and the seven year cycle has not been lost. The time of the occurrence of the Jubilee Year though, has been 'lost'. Observance of the Sabbatical year is of high accord and one who doesn't, may not allowed to be a witness in a Jewish court.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
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