Leviticus 25
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying:
The Lord told 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.
“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 Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof:
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 to the land, of the resting of the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy 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 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:
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 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:
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 things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.
and to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used 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:
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 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 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 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:
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 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,
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 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them.
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 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.
If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another.
15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.
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 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.
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 afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because 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 Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfill them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear,
Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land.
19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall’s invasion.
Then the land will produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.
20 But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits?
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 you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits 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 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.
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 The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me.
Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.
24 For which cause all the country of your possession shall be 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 thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may 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 have no kinsman, and he himself can 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 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.
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 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.
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 He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired:
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 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.
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 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 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 houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed:
However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.
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.
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, because it is a perpetual possession.
However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
35 If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee,
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 Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
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 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor exact of him any increase of fruits.
Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.
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.
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 thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants:
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 as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee 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 afterwards he shall go out with his children, and shall return to his kindred and 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 they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen:
Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.
43 Afflict him not by might, but fear thy God.
Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.
44 Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you.
Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.
45 And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land, these you shall have for 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 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.
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 stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race:
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 may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren 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 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,
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 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,
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 be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them 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 make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years, and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth 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 allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy 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 And if by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out 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 the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought forth out of 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.”
