Leviticus 25

1 The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai,

And the Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2 “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.

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 can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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,

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 to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used for food.

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

8 Count seven ‘sabbaths’ of years, in other words, seven times seven years, so that the seven sabbaths of years come to 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces.

For it is the Jubilee, and it is holy to you; your food will be the natural increase of the field.

13 In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your own property.

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

14 If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another.

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

15 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.

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 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.

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 Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your 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 Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land.

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

19 Then the land will produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.

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 ask, ‘What are we going to in the seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our crops?’

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 bless you in the sixth year, so that the land will produce a crop that will be enough 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 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.

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 Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.

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 So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.

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

25 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.

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 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,

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 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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.

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

33 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.

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 However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.

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

35 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.

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 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.

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 Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.

Do not take interest on the money which you let him have or on the food which you give him.

38 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.

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 any of your people become poor and have to sell themselves to work for you, don't force them to work as 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 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.

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

41 Then they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property.

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 Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.

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

43 Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.

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

44 Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.

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

45 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.

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 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.

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 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,

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 they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back—

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

49 an uncle or cousin or any close relative from their family can buy them back. If they become successful, they can buy themselves back.

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 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.

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 are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the purchase 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 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.

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 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.

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 If they are not bought back in any of the ways described, they and their children shall be freed in the Jubilee Year.

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 Israelites belong to me as my slaves. They are my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

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.