Leviticus 25

1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying:

Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2 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.

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof.

For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.

4 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.

But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

5 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.

You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

6 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;

Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

7 and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.

and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.

8 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.

And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years.

9 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.

Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.

10 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.

So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.

11 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.

The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.

12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you; ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.

13 In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.

14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buy of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not wrong one another.

If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

15 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.

You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining.

16 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.

You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.

17 And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God; for I am the LORD your God.

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

18 Wherefore ye shall do My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.

19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat until ye have enough, and dwell therein in safety.

Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.

20 And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase';

Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’

21 then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years.

But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.

22 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.

While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.

23 And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and settlers with Me.

The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

25 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.

If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

26 And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxen rich and find sufficient means to redeem it;

Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,

27 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.

he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.

28 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.

But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property.

29 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.

If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.

30 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.

If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee.

31 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.

But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

32 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.

As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.

33 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.

So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.

34 But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.

But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.

35 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.

Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

36 Take thou no interest of him or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.

You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

38 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.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39 And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant.

If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.

40 As a hired servant, and as a settler, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee.

Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

41 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.

Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.

42 For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.

Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

44 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.

Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

45 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.

You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

46 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.

You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.

47 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,

If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

48 after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him;

he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him:

49 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.

either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

50 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.

He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.

51 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.

If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

52 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.

If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.

53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him; he shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.

He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

54 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.

Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee.

55 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.

For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.