Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 31:9-10 
Context31:9 Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders. 31:10 He 1 commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, 2 at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, 3
1 tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה (shÿmittah), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1.
3 tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] ([khag] hassukot, “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13.
sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15.
