Leviticus 25
1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses at mount Sinai, saying,
The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai,
2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to Jehovah.
“Tell the Israelites: When you enter the land that I'm giving you, the land itself must also observe a Sabbath rest in honor of the Lord.
3 Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits of it,
Six years you can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops.
4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to Jehovah. Thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath in honor of the Lord. Don't plant your fields or care for your vineyards.
5 That which grows of itself of thy harvest thou shall not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shall not gather. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
Don't harvest what may have grown up in your fields, or collect the grapes from your vineyards that you haven't cared for. The land is to have a year of complete rest.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger, who sojourns with thee.
You can eat whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year. This applies to yourself, your male and female slaves, paid workers and foreigners who live with you,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, all the increase of it shall be for food.
and to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used for food.
8 And thou shall number seven sabbaths of years to thee, seven times seven years, and there shall be to thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.
Count seven ‘sabbaths’ of years, in other words, seven times seven years, so that the seven sabbaths of years come to forty-nine years.
9 Then thou shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement ye shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.
Then blow the trumpet all through the country on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the Day of Atonement. Make sure this signal is heard throughout your whole country.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants of it. It shall be a jubilee to you, and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man to his family.
You are to dedicate the fiftieth year and announce freedom everywhere in the country for all who live there. This is to be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to reclaim your property and to be part of your family once more.
11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of the undressed vines.
The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. Don't sow the land; don't harvest what may have grown up in your fields, or collect the grapes from your vineyards that you haven't cared for.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. Ye shall eat the increase of it out of the field.
It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces.
13 In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man to his possession.
In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your own property.
14 And if thou sell anything to thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not wrong each other.
If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another.
15 According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shall buy of thy neighbor, and according to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to thee.
When you buy from your neighbor work out how many years have passed since the last Jubilee, for he is to sell to you depending on how many years of harvest remain.
16 According to the multitude of the years thou shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of the years thou shall diminish the price of it, for the number of the crops he sells to thee.
The more years that are left, the more you shall pay; the fewer years that are left, the less you shall pay, because he is actually selling you a specific number of harvests.
17 And ye shall not wrong each other, but thou shall fear thy God, for I am Jehovah your God.
Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your God, because I am the Lord your God.
18 Therefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land.
19 And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell in safety in it.
Then the land will produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.
20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase,
But if you ask, ‘What are we going to in the seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our crops?’
21 then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.
I will bless you in the sixth year, so that the land will produce a crop that will be enough for three years.
22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old storage, until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old storage.
As you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating from that harvest, which will last until your harvest in the ninth year.
23 And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.
24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.
25 If thy brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possession, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and shall redeem that which his brother has sold.
If one of your people becomes poor and sells you some of their land, their close family can come and buy back what they have sold.
26 And if a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes rich and finds sufficient to redeem it,
However, if they don't have anyone who can buy it back, but in the meantime their financial situation improves and they have enough to buy back the land,
27 then let him reckon the years of the sale of it, and restore the excess to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession.
they will work how many years it has been since the sale, and pay back the balance to the person who bought it, and go back to their property
28 But if he is not able to get it back for himself, then that which he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the year of jubilee. And in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.
If they can't raise enough to pay the person back for the land, the buyer will remain its owner until the Jubilee Year. But in the Jubilee the land will be returned so that the original owner can so that they can go back to their property.
29 And if a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
If someone sells a house located in a walled town, they have the right to buy it back for a full year after selling it. It can be bought back any time during that year.
30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go out in the jubilee.
If it isn't bought back be the end of a full year, then ownership of the house in the walled town is permanently transferred to the one who bought it and their descendants. It won't be returned in the Jubilee.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.
But houses in villages that don't have walls around them are to be treated as located in the fields. They can be bought back, and will be returned in the Jubilee.
32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.
33 And if a man purchases from the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.
Whatever the Levites own can be bought back, even houses sold in their towns, and must be returned in the Jubilee. That's because the houses in the towns of the Levites are what they were given to own as their share among the Israelites.
34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
35 And if thy brother becomes poor, and his hand fails with thee, then thou shall uphold him; he shall live with thee as a stranger and a sojourner.
If any of your people become poor and can't survive, you must help them in the same way you would help a foreigner or a stranger, so that they can go on living in your neighborhood.
36 Take thou no interest from him or increase, but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
Don't make them pay you any interest or demand more than they borrowed, but respect your God so that they can remain living in your area.
37 Thou shall not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy food for profit.
Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.
38 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Remember, I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39 And if thy brother becomes poor with thee, and sells himself to thee, thou shall not impose upon him servile labor.
If any of your people become poor and have to sell themselves to work for you, don't force them to work as a slave.
40 He shall be with thee as a hired servant, and as a sojourner. He shall serve with thee to the year of jubilee.
Have them live with you like a paid worker who is staying with you for a while. They are to work for you until the Jubilee Year.
41 Then he shall go out from thee, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers.
Then they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property.
42 For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as bondmen.
Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.
43 Thou shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear thy God.
Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.
44 And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shall have, from the nations that are round about you, ye shall buy bondmen and bondmaids from them.
Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.
45 Moreover of the sons of the strangers who sojourn among you, ye shall buy from them, and from their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land, and they shall be your possession.
You can also buy them from foreigners who have come to live among you, or from their descendants born in your land. You can treat them as your property.
46 And ye shall make them an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession. Ye shall take your permanent bondmen from them, but over your brothers the sons of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.
You can pass them on to your children to inherit as property after you die. You can make them slaves for life, but you must not brutally treat any of your own people, the Israelites, as a slave.
47 And if a stranger or sojourner with thee becomes rich, and thy brother becomes poor beside him, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family,
If a foreigner among you becomes successful, and one of your people living nearby becomes poor and sells themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's family,
48 he may be redeemed after he is sold. One of his brothers may redeem him.
they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back—
49 Or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him. Or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself.
an uncle or cousin or any close relative from their family can buy them back. If they become successful, they can buy themselves back.
50 And he shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the year of jubilee. And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years. He shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.
The person concerned and their buyer will work out the time from the year of the sale up to the Jubilee Year. The price will depend on the number of years, calculated using the daily rate for a paid worker.
51 If there be yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
If there are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the purchase price.
52 And if there remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him. He shall give back the price of his redemption according to his years.
If there are only a few years remaining before the Jubilee Year, then they only have to pay a percentage depending on the number of years still left.
53 He shall be with him as a servant hired year by year. He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.
They are to live with their foreign owner just like a paid worker, hired from year to year, but see to it that the owner doesn't treat him brutally.
54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his sons with him.
If they are not bought back in any of the ways described, they and their children shall be freed in the Jubilee Year.
55 For the sons of Israel are servants to me. They are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
For the Israelites belong to me as my slaves. They are my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
