The word translated “release” is from a form of the verb shamat, “to throw down.” In Ex. 23:11 it is rendered “rest.” The reference here is to the sabbatical year, when the land was to “rest” and when there was release from debt (see Deut. 15:1-10). The “release” of a man who had sold himself into servitude came after six full years of service (see Deut. 15:12); for him, the “seventh year” did not necessarily coincide with the sabbatical year, the “year of release.” The reading year of the law came at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, which began on the 15th of Tishri. The sabbatical year evidently began, like the 50th year, the year of jubilee, in Tishri. The year of jubilee officially opened with the blowing of trumpets at the close of the Day of Atonement, on the 10th of Tishri (see Lev. 25:9).