Leviticus 25

1 And the Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

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

2 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.

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

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

4 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.

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 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.

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 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;

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

And for your cattle, and for the beast that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

8 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;

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 the Jubilee, and it is holy to you; your food will be the natural increase of 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, let every man go back to his heritage.

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

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

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

15 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.

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 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.

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 And do no wrong, one to another, but let the fear of your God be before you; 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 So keep my rules and my decisions and do them, and you will be safe in your land.

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

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

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

20 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

And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

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

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 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.

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

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

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

25 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.

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 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;

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

27 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

33 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.

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

But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

38 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.

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 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;

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 But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till 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 will go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his family 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 For they are my servants whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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;

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

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

49 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.