Leviticus 25

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

And 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.

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

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 [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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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 of release; it shall be holy to you, you shall eat its fruits off the fields.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 And the land shall not be sold for a permanence; for the land is mine, because you are strangers and sojourners before 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 And in every land of your possession, you shall allow ransoms for the land.

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

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

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till 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 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 these are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; such an one shall not be sold as a [common] servant.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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 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;

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

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

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,

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 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.

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 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 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 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

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

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 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.

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

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.