At the end of seven years... — The immediate context, “when he hath served thee six years,” shows that the liberation was intended to take place at the beginning of the seventh year. The Sabbath-year was to bring its rest to the slave as well as to the land.

Your fathers hearkened not unto me... — The words imply the fact already stated, that there had been a long-continued violation of the law to which the prophet refers. In Isaiah 58:6; Isaiah 61:1 (assuming the earlier date of those prophecies) we may trace a protest against that violation.

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