Leviticus 25
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses on mount Sinai, saying:
The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai,
2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you will have entered into the land which I will give to you, rest on the Sabbath of the Lord.
“Tell the Israelites: When you enter the land that I'm giving you, the land itself must also observe a Sabbath rest in honor of the Lord.
3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall care for your vineyard, and you shall gather its fruits.
Six years you can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops.
4 But in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath of the land, a resting of the Lord. You shall not sow your field, and you shall not care for your vineyard.
But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath in honor of the Lord. Don't plant your fields or care for your vineyards.
5 What the soil shall spontaneously produce, you shall not harvest. And you shall not gather the grapes of the first-fruits as a crop. For it is a year of rest for the land.
Don't harvest what may have grown up in your fields, or collect the grapes from your vineyards that you haven't cared for. The land is to have a year of complete rest.
6 But these shall be yours for food, for you and for your men and women servants, and for your hired hands, and for the newcomers who sojourn with you:
You can eat whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year. This applies to yourself, your male and female slaves, paid workers and foreigners who live with you,
7 all that grows on its own shall provide food for your beasts and cattle.
and to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used for food.
8 You shall also number for yourselves seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven, which together makes forty-nine years.
Count seven ‘sabbaths’ of years, in other words, seven times seven years, so that the seven sabbaths of years come to forty-nine years.
9 And you shall sound the trumpet in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, at the time of the atonement, throughout all your land.
Then blow the trumpet all through the country on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the Day of Atonement. Make sure this signal is heard throughout your whole country.
10 And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim a remission for all the inhabitants of your land: for the same is the Jubilee. A man shall return to his possession, and each one shall go back to his original family,
You are to dedicate the fiftieth year and announce freedom everywhere in the country for all who live there. This is to be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to reclaim your property and to be part of your family once more.
11 for it is the Jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, and you shall not reap what grows in the field of its own accord, and you shall not gather the first-fruits of the crop,
The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. Don't sow the land; don't harvest what may have grown up in your fields, or collect the grapes from your vineyards that you haven't cared for.
12 due to the sanctification of the Jubilee. But you shall eat them as they present themselves.
It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces.
13 In the year of the Jubilee, all shall return to their possessions.
In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your own property.
14 When you will sell anything to your fellow citizen, or buy anything from him, do not cause your brother grief, but buy from him according to the number of years from the Jubilee,
If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another.
15 and he shall sell to you according to the computation of the produce.
When you buy from your neighbor work out how many years have passed since the last Jubilee, for he is to sell to you depending on how many years of harvest remain.
16 The more years that will remain after the Jubilee, the more the price shall increase, and the less the time is numbered, so much less shall the purchase price be. For he will sell to you the time for the produce.
The more years that are left, the more you shall pay; the fewer years that are left, the less you shall pay, because he is actually selling you a specific number of harvests.
17 Do not be willing to afflict your countrymen, but let each one fear his God. For I am the Lord your God.
Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your God, because I am the Lord your God.
18 Accomplish my precepts, and observe my judgments, and complete them, so that you may be able to live in the land without any fear,
Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land.
19 and so that the soil may produce its fruits for you, from which you may eat, even to fullness, dreading violence by no one.
Then the land will produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.
20 But if you will say: What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow and do not gather our produce?
But if you ask, ‘What are we going to in the seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our crops?’
21 I will give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it shall yield the produce of three years.
I will bless you in the sixth year, so that the land will produce a crop that will be enough for three years.
22 And in the eighth year you shall sow, but you shall eat from the old produce, until the ninth year, until what is new matures, you shall eat what is old.
As you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating from that harvest, which will last until your harvest in the ninth year.
23 Also, the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for it is mine, and you are newcomers and settlers to me.
Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.
24 Therefore, every region of your possession shall be sold under the condition of redemption.
So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.
25 If your brother, being in need, will have sold his little possession and his close relative is willing, he is able to redeem what he had sold.
If one of your people becomes poor and sells you some of their land, their close family can come and buy back what they have sold.
26 But if he has no near relative, and he himself is able to find the price to redeem it,
However, if they don't have anyone who can buy it back, but in the meantime their financial situation improves and they have enough to buy back the land,
27 the produce shall be calculated from that time when he sold it. And what is lacking, he shall repay to the buyer, and so he shall receive his possession.
they will work how many years it has been since the sale, and pay back the balance to the person who bought it, and go back to their property
28 But if his hand will not have discovered a way to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the Jubilee. For in that year all that has been sold shall return to the owner, and to the original possessor.
If they can't raise enough to pay the person back for the land, the buyer will remain its owner until the Jubilee Year. But in the Jubilee the land will be returned so that the original owner can so that they can go back to their property.
29 Whoever will have sold a house within the walls of a city shall have the freedom to redeem it, until one year has been completed.
If someone sells a house located in a walled town, they have the right to buy it back for a full year after selling it. It can be bought back any time during that year.
30 If he has not redeemed it, and the year will have turned full circle, the buyer and his posterity shall possess it, in perpetuity, and it is not able to be redeemed, even in the Jubilee.
If it isn't bought back be the end of a full year, then ownership of the house in the walled town is permanently transferred to the one who bought it and their descendants. It won't be returned in the Jubilee.
31 But if the house is in a village, which has no walls, it shall be sold by the law of the fields. If it has not been redeemed beforehand, then in the Jubilee it shall return to the owner.
But houses in villages that don't have walls around them are to be treated as located in the fields. They can be bought back, and will be returned in the Jubilee.
32 The buildings of the Levites, which are in the cities, are always able to be redeemed.
However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.
33 If they have not been redeemed, then in the Jubilee they shall return to the owners, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possession among the sons of Israel.
Whatever the Levites own can be bought back, even houses sold in their towns, and must be returned in the Jubilee. That's because the houses in the towns of the Levites are what they were given to own as their share among the Israelites.
34 But let not their suburbs be sold, for it is an everlasting possession.
However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
35 If your brother has become impoverished, or infirm of hand, and you take him in, like a newcomer or a sojourner, and he lives with you,
If any of your people become poor and can't survive, you must help them in the same way you would help a foreigner or a stranger, so that they can go on living in your neighborhood.
36 do not accept usury from him, nor anything more than what you gave. Fear your God, so that your brother may be able to live with you.
Don't make them pay you any interest or demand more than they borrowed, but respect your God so that they can remain living in your area.
37 You shall not give him your money by usury, nor exact from him an overabundance of produce.
Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.
38 I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, so that I might give to you the land of Canaan, and so that I may be your God.
Remember, I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39 If your brother, having been compelled by poverty, will have sold himself to you, you shall not oppress him with the servitude of indentured servants.
If any of your people become poor and have to sell themselves to work for you, don't force them to work as a slave.
40 But he shall be like a hired hand or a settler; he shall work with you, until the year of the Jubilee.
Have them live with you like a paid worker who is staying with you for a while. They are to work for you until the Jubilee Year.
41 And after that, he shall depart with his children, and he shall return to his kindred, to the possession of his fathers.
Then they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property.
42 For these are my servants, and I led them away from the land of Egypt; let them not be sold into the condition of servitude.
Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.
43 Do not afflict him by power, but be fearful of your God.
Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.
44 Let your male and female servants be from the nations which are all around you,
Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.
45 and from the newcomers who sojourn with you, or who have been born from them in your land. These you shall have as servants,
You can also buy them from foreigners who have come to live among you, or from their descendants born in your land. You can treat them as your property.
46 and, by the right of inheritance, you shall transmit them to your posterity, and you shall possess them forever. But do not oppress your brothers, the sons of Israel, by power.
You can pass them on to your children to inherit as property after you die. You can make them slaves for life, but you must not brutally treat any of your own people, the Israelites, as a slave.
47 If the hand of a newcomer or a sojourner will have grown strong among you, and your brother, having become impoverished, will have sold himself to him, or to any of his stock,
If a foreigner among you becomes successful, and one of your people living nearby becomes poor and sells themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's family,
48 after the sale, he is able to be redeemed. Whoever is willing among his brothers shall redeem him:
they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back—
49 either the paternal uncle, or the paternal uncle’s son, or his close relative, by blood or by affinity. But if he himself will be able also, he shall redeem himself,
an uncle or cousin or any close relative from their family can buy them back. If they become successful, they can buy themselves back.
50 considering only the years from the time of his selling until the year of the Jubilee, and calculating the money for which he was sold, according to the number of years and the accounting of a hired hand.
The person concerned and their buyer will work out the time from the year of the sale up to the Jubilee Year. The price will depend on the number of years, calculated using the daily rate for a paid worker.
51 If there will have been many years which remain until the Jubilee, according to these shall he also repay the price.
If there are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the purchase price.
52 If few, he shall determine the accounting with him according to the number of years, and he shall repay to the buyer by what is left remaining of the years;
If there are only a few years remaining before the Jubilee Year, then they only have to pay a percentage depending on the number of years still left.
53 his wages being charged by what served before. He shall not afflict him violently in your sight.
They are to live with their foreign owner just like a paid worker, hired from year to year, but see to it that the owner doesn't treat him brutally.
54 But if, by these means, he will not be able to be redeemed, then in the year of the Jubilee he shall depart with his children.
If they are not bought back in any of the ways described, they and their children shall be freed in the Jubilee Year.
55 For they are my servants, the sons of Israel, whom I led away from the land of Egypt.
For the Israelites belong to me as my slaves. They are my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
