< Leviticus 25 >

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying:
And the LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying:
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.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto 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 thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof.
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 in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the LORD; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
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 groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather; it shall be a year of solemn 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-produce of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for the settler by thy side that sojourn with thee;
7 All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.
and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof 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 thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and 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 shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout 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 ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto 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,
A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines.
12 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them.
For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you; ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13 In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions.
In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.
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 if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buy of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not wrong one another.
15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.
According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee.
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.
According to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for the number of crops doth he sell unto thee.
17 Do not afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because I am the Lord your God.
And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God; 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,
Wherefore ye shall do My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall’s invasion.
And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat until ye have enough, and dwell therein in safety.
20 But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits?
And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase';
21 I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years:
then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the 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 ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the produce, the old store; until the ninth year, until her produce come in, ye shall eat the old store.
23 The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me.
And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and settlers with Me.
24 For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption.
And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
25 If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may redeem what he had sold.
If thy brother be waxen poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold.
26 But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it:
And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxen rich and find sufficient means to redeem it;
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 count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return unto his possession.
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 have not sufficient means to get it back for himself, then that which he hath sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee; and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
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 sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption.
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 it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it, throughout his generations; it shall not go out 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 the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.
32 The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed:
But as for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a perpetual right of redemption.
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 man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
34 But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a perpetual possession.
But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.
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 thy brother be waxen poor, and his means fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a settler shall he live with thee.
36 Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
Take thou no interest of him or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor exact of him any increase of fruits.
Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.
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 brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, 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:
And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant.
40 But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee,
As a hired servant, and as a settler, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto 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 shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
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 brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.
43 Afflict him not by might, but fear thy God.
Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
44 Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you.
And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou mayest have: of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
45 And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land, these you shall have for servants:
Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them may ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land; and they may be your possession.
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 ye may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession: of them may ye take your bondmen for ever; but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigour.
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 a stranger who is a settler with thee be waxen rich, and thy brother be waxen poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger who is a settler with thee, or to the offshoot of a stranger's family,
48 After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him:
after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him;
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 uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxen rich, he may redeem himself.
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 he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.
51 If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price.
If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
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 remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption.
53 His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight.
As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him; he shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.
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 be not redeemed by any of these means, then he shall 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 unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

< Leviticus 25 >