Leviticus 25

1 Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

And the LORD spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

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.

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall 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.

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

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 in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for the LORD: you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard.

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 grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed: for it is a year of rest to 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 shall be meat for you; for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojourns with 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 for the beast that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

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 you shall number seven sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty and 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 shall you cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout 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 you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee to you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man 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.

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your vine undressed.

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; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

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

In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man to his possession.

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

And if you sell something to your neighbor, or buy something of your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress 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.

According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, and according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to you:

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.

According to the multitude of years you shall increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits does he sell to you.

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

You shall not therefore oppress one another; but you shall fear your God: 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.

Why you shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

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 shall yield her fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

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 shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our 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 command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit 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 you shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in you shall eat of the old store.

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

The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with me.

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

And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

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 be waxen poor, and has sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

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 the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;

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 count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it; that he may return to his possession.

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 be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.

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 sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

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 it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the 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 the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.

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

Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem 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 man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubilee: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession 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 field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

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 be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with you; then you shall relieve him: yes, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with you.

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

Take you no usury of him, or increase: but fear your God; that your brother may live with you.

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

You shall not give him your money on usury, nor lend him your victuals for increase.

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, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to 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 that dwells by you be waxen poor, and be sold to you; you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant:

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 as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you, and shall serve you to 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.

And then shall he depart from you, both he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers shall he return.

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, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as slaves.

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

You shall not rule over him with rigor; but shall fear your God.

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

Both your slaves, and your bondmaids, which you shall have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall you buy slaves and bondmaids.

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.

Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.

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 you shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your slaves for ever: but over your brothers the children of Israel, you shall not rule one over another with rigor.

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 a sojourner or stranger wax rich by you, and your brother that dwells by him wax poor, and sell himself to the stranger or sojourner by you, or to the stock of the stranger’s family:

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

After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brothers may redeem him:

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

Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.

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 he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him to the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.

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

If there be yet many years behind, according to them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

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 remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according to his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.

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 as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight.

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 be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both 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 to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.