Leviticus 25
1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses on mount Sinai, saying,
Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give unto you; then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I give you, then the land must be made to keep a Sabbath for Yahweh.
3 Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and six years shalt thou prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
You must plant your field for six years, and for six years you must prune your vineyard and gather the produce.
4 But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath [in honor] of the Lord: thy field shalt thou not sow, and thy vineyard shalt thou not prune.
But in the seventh year, a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land must be observed, a Sabbath for Yahweh. You must not plant your field or prune your vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest shalt thou not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine shalt thou not gather: a year of rest shall it be unto the land.
You must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grows by itself, and you must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grapes grow on your unpruned vines. This will be a year of solemn rest for the land.
6 And [the product of] the sabbath of the land shall be unto you for food, for thee, and for thy man-servant, and for thy maid-servant, and for thy hired laborer, and for thy stranger, that sojourn with thee;
Whatever the unworked land grows during the Sabbath year will be food for you. You, your male and female servants, your hired servants and the foreigners who live with you may gather food,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all its products be [left] for food.
and your livestock and also wild animals may eat whatever the land produces.
8 And thou shalt number unto thee seven sabbaths of years, seven years seven times; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
You must count off seven Sabbaths of years, that is, seven times seven years, so that there will be seven Sabbaths of years, totaling forty-nine years.
9 And then shalt thou cause the sound of the cornet to be heard, in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month: on the day of atonement shall ye sound the cornet throughout all your land.
Then you must blow a loud trumpet everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you must blow a trumpet throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom 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.
You must set apart the fiftieth year to Yahweh and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee for you, in which property and slaves must be returned to their families.
11 A jubilee shall this, the fiftieth year, be unto you: ye shall not sow, nor reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather in it the fruit of the undressed vines.
The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. You must not plant or conduct an organized harvest. Eat whatever grows by itself, and gather the grapes that grow on the unpruned vines.
12 For it is the jubilee; holy shall it be unto you: from the field shall ye eat the products thereof.
For it is a Jubilee, which will be holy for you. You must eat the produce that grows by itself out of the fields.
13 In this year of the jubilee shall ye return, every man, unto his possession.
You must return everyone to his own property in this year of Jubilee.
14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy aught of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not overreach one the other;
If you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any land from your neighbor, you must not cheat or wrong each other.
15 According to the number of years after the jubilee shalt thou buy of thy neighbor, according unto the number of harvest-years shall he sell unto thee;
If you buy land from your neighbor, consider the number of years and crops that can be harvested until the next Jubilee. Your neighbor selling the land must consider that also.
16 According to the multitude of years shalt thou increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years shalt thou diminish the price thereof; for a number of harvests doth he sell unto thee.
A larger number of years until the next Jubilee will increase the value of land, and a smaller number of years until the next Jubilee will decrease the value, because the number of harvests the land will produce for the new owner is related to the number of years before the next Jubilee.
17 And ye shall not overreach one the other; but thou shalt be afraid of thy God; for I am the Lord your God.
You must not cheat or wrong one another; instead, you must honor your God, for I am Yahweh your God.
18 And ye shall do my statutes, and my ordinances shall ye keep and do them; and then shall ye dwell in the land in safety.
Therefore you must obey my decrees, keep my laws, and carry them out. Then you will live in the land in safety.
19 And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell in safety therein.
The land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.
20 And if ye should say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? behold, we are not permitted to sow, and we cannot gather in our harvest:
You might say, “What will we eat during the seventh year? Look, we cannot plant or gather our produce.”
21 Then will I command my blessing unto you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth a harvest for three years.
I will command my blessing to come upon you in the sixth year, and it will produce harvest enough for three years.
22 And when ye sow in the eighth year, then shall ye eat yet of the old harvest; until the ninth year, until its harvest come in, shall ye eat of the old store.
You will plant in the eighth year and continue to eat from the previous years' produce and the stored food. Until the harvest of the ninth year comes in, you will be able to eat from the provisions stored in the previous years.
23 And the land shall not be sold for a permanence [to the purchaser]; for the land is mine; for strangers and sojourners are ye with me.
The land must not be sold to a new permanent owner, because the land is mine. You are all foreigners and temporary residents on my land.
24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
You must observe the right of redemption for all the land that you acquire; you must allow the land to be bought back by the family from whom you bought it.
25 If thy brother become poor, and sell away some of his possession: then may his nearest of kin come and redeem what his brother hath sold.
If your fellow Israelite became poor and for that reason sold some of his property, then his nearest relative may come and buy back the property that he sold to you.
26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and he acquire the means, sufficient to be able to redeem it himself:
If a man has no relative to redeem his property, but if he has prospered and has the ability to redeem it,
27 Then let him reckon the years since his sale, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and so shall he return unto his possession.
then he may calculate the years since the land was sold and repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it. Then he may return to his own property.
28 But if his means do not suffice to enable him to restore it to him: then shall that which he hath sold remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of the jubilee; and it shall be freed in the jubilee, and he shall return unto his possession.
But if he is not able to get the land back for himself, then the land he has sold will remain in the ownership of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. At the year of Jubilee, the land will be returned to the man who sold it, and the original owner will return to his property.
29 And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city: then shall the time of redemption last till the end of the year of his sale; a full year shall his time of redemption last.
If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may buy it back within a whole year after it was sold. For a full year he will have the right of redemption.
30 And if it be not redeemed within the expiration of a full year: then shall the house which is in the walled city remain as a permanence to him that bought it throughout his generations; it shall not become freed in the jubilee.
If the house is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city will become the permanent property of the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the year of Jubilee.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they shall have the right of redemption, and they shall become freed in the jubilee.
But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them will be considered as the field of the land. They may be redeemed, and they must be returned during the year of Jubilee.
32 And [respecting] the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, a perpetual right of redemption shall belong to the Levites.
However, the houses owned by the Levites in their cities may be redeemed at any time.
33 And if a man of the Levites redeem something: then shall the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, become freed in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
If one of the Levites does not redeem a house he sold, then the house that was sold in the city where it is located must be returned in the year of Jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property among the people of Israel.
34 And a field of the suburbs of their cities shall not be sold; for a perpetual possession is it unto them.
But the fields around their cities may not be sold because they are the permanent property of the Levites.
35 And if thy brother become poor, and fall in decay with thee: then shalt thou assist him, [yea] a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee.
If your fellow countryman becomes poor, so that he can no longer provide for himself, then you must help him as you would help a foreigner or anyone else living as an outsider among you.
36 Thou shalt not take of him any usury or increase; but thou shalt be afraid of thy God: that thy brother may live with thee.
Do not charge him interest or try to profit from him in any way, but honor your God so that your brother may keep living with you.
37 Thy money shalt thou not give him upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
You must not give him a loan of money and charge interest, nor sell him your food to earn a profit.
38 I am the Lord your God, who have brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give unto you the land of Canaan, to be unto you a God.
I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, in order that I might give you the land of Canaan, and that I might be your God.
39 And if thy brother become poor near thee, and be sold unto thee: thou shalt not compel him to work as a bond-servant.
If your fellow countryman has become poor and sells himself to you, you must not make him work like a slave.
40 But as a hired laborer, as a sojourner, shall he be with thee; until the year of the jubilee shall he serve with thee:
Treat him as a hired servant. He must be like someone living temporarily with you. He will serve with you until the year of Jubilee.
41 And then shall he depart from thee, he and his children with him; and he shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
Then he will go away from you, he and his children with him, and he will return to his own family and to his fathers' property.
42 For my servants are they, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bond-men are sold.
For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They will not be sold as slaves.
43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor; but thou shalt have fear of thy God.
You must not rule over them harshly, but you must honor your God.
44 But thy bond-man, and thy bond-woman that shall remain thine, shall be of the nations that are round about you; of them may ye buy bond-man and bond-woman.
As for your male and female slaves, whom you can obtain from the nations who live around you, you may buy slaves from them.
45 And also of the children of the strangers that sojourn with you, of them may ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land; and they shall remain to you as a possession.
You may also buy slaves from the foreigners who are living among you, that is, from their families who are with you, children who have been born in your land. They may become your property.
46 And ye may transfer them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; you may hold them to service for ever; but over your brethren the children of Israel, one over the other, ye shall not rule with rigor.
You may provide such slaves as an inheritance for your children after you, to hold as property, and make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your brothers among the people of Israel with harshness.
47 And if a stranger or sojourner wax rich near thee, and thy brother become poor near him, and he sell himself unto the sojourning stranger near thee, or to a descendant of a stranger's family:
If a foreigner or someone living temporarily with you has become wealthy, and if one of your fellow Israelites has become poor and sells himself to that foreigner, or to someone in a foreigner's family,
48 After he hath sold himself shall he have the right of redemption; one of his brethren may redeem him.
after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may be bought back. Someone in his family may redeem him.
49 Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is near of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he obtain the means, he may redeem himself.
It might be the person's uncle, or his uncle's son, who redeems him, or anyone who is his close relative from his family. Or, if he has become prosperous, 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 the jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, as the time of a hired laborer shall he have been with him.
He must bargain with the man who bought him; they must count the years from the year he sold himself to his purchaser until the year of Jubilee. The price of his redemption must be figured in keeping with the rate paid to a hired servant, for the number of years he might continue to work for the one who bought him.
51 If there be yet many years, according to them shall he return the price of his redemption out of his purchase-money.
If there are still many years until the year of Jubilee, he must pay back as the price for his redemption an amount of money that is in proportion to the number of those years.
52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of the jubilee: then shall he reckon with him; according to his years shall he return the price of his redemption.
If there are only a few years to the year of Jubilee, then he must bargain with his purchaser to reflect the number of years left before the year of Jubilee, and he must pay for his redemption in keeping with the number of years.
53 As a laborer hired from year to year shall he be with him; he shall not rule over him with rigor before thy eyes.
He is to be treated like a man hired year by year. You must make sure he is not treated with harshness.
54 And if he be not redeemed by [one of] these means: then shall he go out in the year of the jubilee, both he, and his children with him.
If he is not redeemed by these means, then he must serve until the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
55 For unto me are the children of Israel servants, my servants are they, whom I have brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the Eternal your God.
To me the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'”
