Leviticus 25
1 The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai,
And the Lord spoke to Moses in the mount Sina, saying,
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.
Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, Whenever you shall have entered into the land, which I give to you, then the land shall rest which I give to you, for its sabbaths to the Lord.
3 Six years you can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops.
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vine, and gather in its fruit.
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 in the seventh year [shall be] a sabbath, it shall be a rest to the land, a sabbath to the Lord: you shall not sow your field, and you shall not prune your vine.
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.
And you shall not gather the spontaneous produce of your field, and you shall not gather fully the grapes of your dedication: it shall be a year of rest to 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 sabbaths of the land shall be food for you, and for your man-servant, and for your maidservant, and your hireling, and the stranger that abides with 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 for the wild beats that are in your land, shall every fruit of it 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 you shall reckon to yourself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and they shall be to you seven weeks of years, nine and forty 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.
In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall make a proclamation with the sound of a trumpet in all your land; on the day of atonement you shall make a proclamation with a trumpet in 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 you shall sanctify the year, the fifties year, and you shall proclaim a release upon the land to all that inhabit it; it shall be given a year of release, a jubilee for you; and each one shall depart to his possession, and you shall go each 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.
This is a jubilee of release, the year shall be to you the fifties year: you shall not sow, nor reap the produce that comes of itself from the land, neither shall you gather its dedicated fruits.
12 It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces.
For it is a jubilee of release; it shall be holy to you, you shall eat its fruits off the fields.
13 In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your own property.
In the year of the release [even] the jubilee of it, shall [each] one return to his possession.
14 If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another.
And if you should sell a possession to your neighbour, or if you should buy of your neighbour, let not a man oppress his neighbour.
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.
According to the number of years after the jubilee shall you buy of your neighbour, according to the number of years of the fruits shall he sell to you.
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.
According as [there may be] a greater number of years he shall increase [the value of] his possession, and according as [there may be] a less number of years he shall lessen [the value of] his possession; for according to the number of his crops, so shall he sell to you.
17 Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your God, because I am the Lord your God.
Let not a man oppress his neighbour, and you shall fear the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.
18 Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land.
And you shall keep all my ordinances, and all my judgements; and do you observe them, and you shall keep them, and dwell securely in the land.
19 Then the land will produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.
And the land shall yield her increase, and you shall eat to fullness, and shall dwell securely in it.
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 should say, What shall we eat in this seventh year, if we do not sow nor gather in our fruits?
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 will I send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and the land shall produce its fruits 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 you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old fruits till the ninth year: until its fruit come, you shall eat old fruits of the old.
23 Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.
And the land shall not be sold for a permanence; for the land is mine, because you are strangers and sojourners before me.
24 So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.
And in every land of your possession, you shall allow ransoms for the land.
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.
And if your brother who is with you be poor, and should have sold [part] of his possession, and his kinsman who is near to him come, then he shall redeem the possession which his brother has sold.
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 one have no near kinsman, and he prosper with his hand, and he find sufficient money, [even] his ransom;
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 shall he calculate the years of his sale, and he shall give what is due to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession.
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 his hand have not prospered sufficiently, so as that he should restore the money to him, then he that bought the possessions shall have them till the sixth year of the release; and it shall go out in the release, and the owner shall return to his possession.
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 any one should sell an inhabited house in a walled city, then there shall be the ransom of it, until [the time] is fulfilled: its time of ransom shall be a full year.
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 it be not ransomed until there be completed of its time a full year, the house which is in the walled city shall be surely confirmed to him that bought it, throughout his generations; and it shall not go out in the release.
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 the houses in the villages which have not a wall round about them, shall be reckoned as the fields of the country: they shall always be redeemable, and they shall go out in the release.
32 However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.
And the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities in their possession, shall be always redeemable to the Levites.
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 any one shall redeem a house of the Levites, then shall their sale of the houses of their possession go out in the release; because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the children of Israel.
34 However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
And the lands set apart for their cities shall not be sold, because this is their perpetual possession.
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 who is with you become poor, and he fail in resources with you, you shall help him as a stranger and a sojourner, and your brother shall live with 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.
You shall not receive from him interest, nor increase: and you shall fear your God: I [am] the Lord: and your brother shall live with you.
37 Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.
You shall not lend your money to him at interest, and you shall not lend your meat to him to be returned with increase.
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 brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Chanaan, so as to 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 by you be lowered, and be sold to you, he shall not serve you with the servitude of a slave.
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.
He shall be with you as a hireling or a sojourner, he shall work for you till the year of release:
41 Then they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property.
and he shall go out in the release, and his children with him; and he shall go to his family, he shall hasten back to his patrimony.
42 Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.
Because these are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; such an one shall not be sold as a [common] servant.
43 Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.
You shall not oppress him with labour, and shall fear the Lord your God.
44 Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.
And whatever number of menservants and maidservants you shall have, you shall purchase male and female servants from the nations that are round about you.
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 of the sons of the sojourners that are amongst you, of these you shall buy and of their relations, all that shall be in your lands; let them be to you for a possession.
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 you shall distribute them to your children after you, and they shall be to you permanent possessions for ever: but of your brethren the children of Israel, one shall not oppress his brother in labours.
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 a stranger or sojourner with you wax rich, and your brother in distress be sold to the stranger or the sojourner that is with you, or to a proselyte by extraction;
48 they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back—
after he is sold to him there shall be redemption for him, one of his brethren shall redeem him.
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.
A brother of his father, or a son of his father's brother shall redeem him; or let one of his near kin of his tribe redeem him, and if he should be rich and redeem himself,
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.
then shall he calculate with his purchaser from the year that he sold himself to him until the year of release: and the money of his purchase shall be as that of a hireling, he shall be with him from year to year.
51 If there are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the purchase price.
And if any have a greater number of years [than enough], according to these he shall pay his ransom out of his purchase-money.
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 but a little time be left of the years to the year of release, then shall he reckon to him according to his years, and shall pay his ransom
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.
as a hireling; he shall be with him from year to year; you shall not oppress him with labour before you.
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 do not pay his ransom accordingly, he shall go out in the year of his release, 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 my servants: they are my attendants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt.
