Leviticus 25

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the mount Sina, saying,

Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, Whenever you shall have entered into the land, which I give to you, then the land shall rest which I give to you, for its sabbaths to the Lord.

“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.

3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vine, and gather in its fruit.

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

4 But in the seventh year [shall be] a sabbath, it shall be a rest to the land, a sabbath to the Lord: you shall not sow your field, and you shall not prune your vine.

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.

5 And you shall not gather the spontaneous produce of your field, and you shall not gather fully the grapes of your dedication: it shall be a year of rest to the land.

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.

6 And the sabbaths of the land shall be food for you, and for your man-servant, and for your maidservant, and your hireling, and the stranger that abides with you.

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,

7 And for your cattle, and for the wild beats that are in your land, shall every fruit of it be for food.

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

8 And you shall reckon to yourself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and they shall be to you seven weeks of years, nine and forty years.

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.

9 In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall make a proclamation with the sound of a trumpet in all your land; on the day of atonement you shall make a proclamation with a trumpet in all your land.

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.

10 And you shall sanctify the year, the fifties year, and you shall proclaim a release upon the land to all that inhabit it; it shall be given a year of release, a jubilee for you; and each one shall depart to his possession, and you shall go each to his family.

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.

11 This is a jubilee of release, the year shall be to you the fifties year: you shall not sow, nor reap the produce that comes of itself from the land, neither shall you gather its dedicated fruits.

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.

12 For it is a jubilee of release; it shall be holy to you, you shall eat its fruits off the fields.

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

13 In the year of the release [even] the jubilee of it, shall [each] one return to his possession.

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

14 And if you should sell a possession to your neighbour, or if you should buy of your neighbour, let not a man oppress his neighbour.

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

15 According to the number of years after the jubilee shall you buy of your neighbour, according to the number of years of the fruits shall he sell to you.

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.

16 According as [there may be] a greater number of years he shall increase [the value of] his possession, and according as [there may be] a less number of years he shall lessen [the value of] his possession; for according to the number of his crops, so shall he sell to you.

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.

17 Let not a man oppress his neighbour, and you shall fear the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.

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

18 And you shall keep all my ordinances, and all my judgements; and do you observe them, and you shall keep them, and dwell securely in the land.

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

19 And the land shall yield her increase, and you shall eat to fullness, and shall dwell securely in it.

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

20 And if you should say, What shall we eat in this seventh year, if we do not sow nor gather in our fruits?

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

21 Then will I send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and the land shall produce its fruits for three years.

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

22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old fruits till the ninth year: until its fruit come, you shall eat old fruits of the old.

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

23 And the land shall not be sold for a permanence; for the land is mine, because you are strangers and sojourners before me.

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

24 And in every land of your possession, you shall allow ransoms for the land.

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

25 And if your brother who is with you be poor, and should have sold [part] of his possession, and his kinsman who is near to him come, then he shall redeem the possession which his brother has sold.

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

26 And if one have no near kinsman, and he prosper with his hand, and he find sufficient money, [even] his ransom;

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

27 then shall he calculate the years of his sale, and he shall give what is due to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession.

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

28 But if his hand have not prospered sufficiently, so as that he should restore the money to him, then he that bought the possessions shall have them till the sixth year of the release; and it shall go out in the release, and the owner shall return to his possession.

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.

29 And if any one should sell an inhabited house in a walled city, then there shall be the ransom of it, until [the time] is fulfilled: its time of ransom shall be a full year.

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.

30 And if it be not ransomed until there be completed of its time a full year, the house which is in the walled city shall be surely confirmed to him that bought it, throughout his generations; and it shall not go out in the release.

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.

31 But the houses in the villages which have not a wall round about them, shall be reckoned as the fields of the country: they shall always be redeemable, and they shall go out in the release.

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.

32 And the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities in their possession, shall be always redeemable to the Levites.

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

33 And if any one shall redeem a house of the Levites, then shall their sale of the houses of their possession go out in the release; because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the children of Israel.

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.

34 And the lands set apart for their cities shall not be sold, because this is their perpetual possession.

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

35 And if your brother who is with you become poor, and he fail in resources with you, you shall help him as a stranger and a sojourner, and your brother shall live with you.

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.

36 You shall not receive from him interest, nor increase: and you shall fear your God: I [am] the Lord: and your brother shall live with you.

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

37 You shall not lend your money to him at interest, and you shall not lend your meat to him to be returned with increase.

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

38 I [am] the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Chanaan, so as to be your God.

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.

39 And if your brother by you be lowered, and be sold to you, he shall not serve you with the servitude of a slave.

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

40 He shall be with you as a hireling or a sojourner, he shall work for you till the year of release:

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

41 and he shall go out in the release, and his children with him; and he shall go to his family, he shall hasten back to his patrimony.

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

42 Because these are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; such an one shall not be sold as a [common] servant.

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

43 You shall not oppress him with labour, and shall fear the Lord your God.

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

44 And whatever number of menservants and maidservants you shall have, you shall purchase male and female servants from the nations that are round about you.

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

45 And of the sons of the sojourners that are amongst you, of these you shall buy and of their relations, all that shall be in your lands; let them be to you for a possession.

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.

46 And you shall distribute them to your children after you, and they shall be to you permanent possessions for ever: but of your brethren the children of Israel, one shall not oppress his brother in labours.

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.

47 And if a stranger or sojourner with you wax rich, and your brother in distress be sold to the stranger or the sojourner that is with you, or to a proselyte by extraction;

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,

48 after he is sold to him there shall be redemption for him, one of his brethren shall redeem him.

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

49 A brother of his father, or a son of his father's brother shall redeem him; or let one of his near kin of his tribe redeem him, and if he should be rich and redeem himself,

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

50 then shall he calculate with his purchaser from the year that he sold himself to him until the year of release: and the money of his purchase shall be as that of a hireling, he shall be with him from year to year.

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.

51 And if any have a greater number of years [than enough], according to these he shall pay his ransom out of his purchase-money.

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

52 And if but a little time be left of the years to the year of release, then shall he reckon to him according to his years, and shall pay his ransom

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

53 as a hireling; he shall be with him from year to year; you shall not oppress him with labour before you.

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.

54 And if he do not pay his ransom accordingly, he shall go out in the year of his release, he and his children with him.

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

55 For the children of Israel are my servants: they are my attendants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt.

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.