Leviticus 25

1 Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

And the Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

Say to the children of Israel, When you come into the land which I will give you, let the land keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

3 For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.

For six years put seed into your land, and for six years give care to your vines and get in the produce of them;

4 But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

But let the seventh year be a Sabbath of rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord; do not put seed into your land or have your vines cut.

5 You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

That which comes to growth of itself may not be cut, and the grapes of your uncared-for vines may not be taken off; let it be a year of rest for the land.

6 Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

And the Sabbath of the land will give food for you and your man-servant and your woman-servant and those working for payment, and for those of another country who are living among you;

7 and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.

And for your cattle and the beasts on the land; all the natural increase of the land will be for food.

8 And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years.

And let seven Sabbaths of years be numbered to you, seven times seven years; even the days of seven Sabbaths of years, that is forty-nine years;

9 Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.

Then let the loud horn be sounded far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of taking away sin let the horn be sounded through all your land.

10 So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.

And let this fiftieth year be kept holy, and say publicly that everyone in the land is free from debt: it is the Jubilee, and every man may go back to his heritage and to his family.

11 The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.

Let this fiftieth year be the Jubilee: no seed may be planted, and that which comes to growth of itself may not be cut, and the grapes may not be taken from the uncared-for vines.

12 For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.

For it is the Jubilee, and it is holy to you; your food will be the natural increase of the field.

13 In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.

In this year of Jubilee, let every man go back to his heritage.

14 If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

And in the business of trading goods for money, do no wrong to one another.

15 You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining.

Let your exchange of goods with your neighbours have relation to the number of years after the year of Jubilee, and the number of times the earth has given her produce.

16 You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.

If the number of years is great, the price will be increased, and if the number of years is small, the price will be less, for it is the produce of a certain number of years which the man is giving you.

17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

And do no wrong, one to another, but let the fear of your God be before you; for I am the Lord your God.

18 You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.

So keep my rules and my decisions and do them, and you will be safe in your land.

19 Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.

And the land will give her fruit, and you will have food in full measure and be safe in the land.

20 Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’

And if you say, Where will our food come from in the seventh year, when we may not put in seed, or get in the increase

21 But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.

Then I will send my blessing on you in the sixth year, and the land will give fruit enough for three years.

22 While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.

And in the eighth year you will put in your seed, and get your food from the old stores, till the fruit of the ninth year is ready.

23 The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

No exchange of land may be for ever, for the land is mine, and you are as my guests, living with me for a time.

24 Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Wherever there is property in land, the owner is to have the right of getting it back.

25 If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

If your brother becomes poor, and has to give up some of his land for money, his nearest relation may come and get back that which his brother has given up.

26 Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,

And if he has no one to get it back for him, and later he himself gets wealth and has enough money to get it back;

27 he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.

Then let him take into account the years from the time when he gave it up, and make up the loss for the rest of the years to him who took it, and so get back his property.

28 But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property.

But if he is not able to get it back for himself, then it will be kept by him who gave a price for it, till the year of Jubilee; and in that year it will go back to its first owner and he will have his property again.

29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.

And if a man gives his house in a walled town for money, he has the right to get it back for the space of a full year after he has given it up.

30 If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee.

And if he does not get it back by the end of the year, then the house in the town will become the property of him who gave the money for it, and of his children for ever; it will not go from him in the year of Jubilee.

31 But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

But houses in small unwalled towns will be the same as property in the country; they may be got back, and they will go back to their owners in the year of Jubilee.

32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.

But the houses in the towns of the Levites may be got back by the Levites at any time.

33 So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.

And if a Levite does not give money to get back his property, his house in the town which was exchanged for money will come back to him in the year of Jubilee. For the houses of the towns of the Levites are their property among the children of Israel.

34 But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.

But the land on the outskirts of their towns may not be exchanged for money, for it is their property for ever.

35 Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

And if your brother becomes poor and is not able to make a living, then you are to keep him with you, helping him as you would a man from another country who is living among you.

36 Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

Take no interest from him, in money or in goods, but have the fear of your God before you, and let your brother make a living among you.

37 You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

Do not take interest on the money which you let him have or on the food which you give him.

38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, that I might be your God.

39 If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.

And if your brother becomes poor and gives himself to you for money, do not make use of him like a servant who is your property;

40 Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till the year of Jubilee;

41 Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.

Then he will go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his family and to the property of his fathers.

42 Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

For they are my servants whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another.

43 You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

Do not be a hard master to him, but have the fear of God before you.

44 Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

But you may get servants as property from among the nations round about; from them you may take men-servants and women-servants.

45 You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

And in addition, you may get, for money, servants from among the children of other nations who are living with you, and from their families which have come to birth in your land; and these will be your property.

46 You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.

And they will be your children's heritage after you, to keep as their property; they will be your servants for ever; but you may not be hard masters to your countrymen, the children of Israel.

47 If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

And if one from another nation living among you gets wealth, and your countryman, at his side, becomes poor and gives himself for money to the man from another nation or to one of his family;

48 he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him:

After he has given himself he has the right to be made free, for a price, by one of his brothers,

49 either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

Or his father's brother, or the son of his father's brother, or any near relation; or if he gets money, he may make himself free.

50 He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.

And let the years be numbered from the time when he gave himself to his owner till the year of Jubilee, and the price given for him will be in relation to the number of years, on the scale of the payment of a servant.

51 If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

If there is still a long time, he will give back, on account of it, a part of the price which was given for him.

52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.

And if there is only a short time, he will take account of it with his master, and in relation to the number of years he will give back the price of making him free.

53 He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

And he will be with him as a servant working for payment year by year; his master is not to be cruel to him before your eyes.

54 Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee.

And if he is not made free in this way, he will go out in the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.

55 For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

For the children of Israel are servants to me; they are my servants whom I took out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.