Leviticus 25

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying:

And the Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the sabbath 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 thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof:

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 there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

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 What the ground shall bring forth of itself, thou shalt not reap: neither shalt thou gather the grapes of the firstfruits as a vintage: for it is 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 But they shall be unto you for meat, to thee and to thy manservant, to thy maidservant and thy hireling, and to the strangers that sojourn with thee:

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 All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.

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

8 Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years, that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine 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 And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation 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 thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former 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 Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the firstfruits of the vines,

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 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them.

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 jubilee all shall return to their possessions.

In this year of Jubilee, let every man go back to his heritage.

14 When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him; grieve not thy brother: but thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee.

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

15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.

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 The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits.

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 Do not afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because 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 Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfill them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear,

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

19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall’s invasion.

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

20 But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather 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 I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of 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 the eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, until the ninth year: till new grow up, you shall eat the old store.

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 The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with 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 For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption.

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

25 If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may redeem what he had 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 But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it:

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 The value of the fruits shall be counted from that time when he sold it: and the overplus he shall restore to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again.

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 hands find not the means to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor.

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 He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired:

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 If he redeem it not, and the whole year be fully out, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it cannot be redeemed, not even in the jubilee.

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 if the house be in a village, that hath no walls, it shall be sold according to the same law as the fields: if it be not redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the owner.

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 The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed:

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

33 If they be not redeemed, in the jubilee they shall all return to the owners, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possessions among 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 But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a 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 If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee,

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 Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.

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 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor exact of him any increase of fruits.

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, that I might give you the land of Chanaan, and might 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 If thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants:

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 But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee,

But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till the year of Jubilee;

41 And afterwards he shall go out with his children, and shall return to his kindred and to the possession of his fathers,

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 For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen:

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

43 Afflict him not by might, but fear thy God.

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

44 Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of 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 strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land, these you shall have for servants:

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 by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.

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 If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race:

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 the sale he may be redeemed. He that will 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 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall 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 Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant,

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 If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price.

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 If few, he shall make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years, and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth of the years,

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 His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight.

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 by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children.

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, whom I brought forth 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.