< Leviticus 25 >
1 And Yahweh spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying—
2 Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them: —When ye enter into the land which, I, am giving you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Yahweh.
3 Six years, shalt thou sow thy field, and, six years, shalt thou prune thy vineyard, —and gather the increase thereof;
4 but, in the seventh year—a sabbath of sacred rest, shall there be unto the land, a sabbath unto Yahweh: thy field, shalt thou not sow, and, thy vineyard, shalt thou not prune;
5 that which groweth of itself of thy harvest, shalt thou not reap; and the grapes of thine unpruned vines, shalt thou not cut off: a year of sacred rest, shall there be to the land.
6 So shall the sabbath of the land be unto you for food: unto thee, and unto thy servant and unto thy handmaid, —and unto thy hireling, and unto thy settlers that are sojourning with thee;
7 and unto thy tame-beasts, and unto the wild-beasts that are in thy land, shall belong all the increase thereof for food.
8 And thou shalt count to thee seven weeks of years, seven years, seven times, —so shall the days of the seven weeks of years become to thee forty-nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause a signal-horn to pass through in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month: on the Day of Propitiation, shall ye cause a horn to pass throughout all your land.
10 So shall ye hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all the dwellers thereof, —a jubilee, shall it be unto you, and ye shall return, every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family, shall ye return.
11 A jubilee, shall that fiftieth year be unto you, —ye shall not sow, neither shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof.
12 For, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, —out of the field, shall ye eat her increase.
13 In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession.
14 And when ye sell anything to thy neighbour, or buy aught at thy neighbour’s hand, do not overreach one another.
15 By the number of years after the jubilee, shalt thou buy of thy neighbour, —by the number of the years of increase, shall he sell unto thee;
16 according to the multitude of the years, shalt thou increase the price thereof, and, according to the fewness of the years, shalt thou diminish the price thereof, —because the sum of the increase, it is that he selleth thee.
17 So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, —for, I—Yahweh, am your God.
18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and my regulations, shall ye observe and do them, —so shall ye dwell upon the land with confidence;
19 and the land shall yield her fruit; and ye shall eat to the full, —and shall dwell with confidence thereupon.
20 And since ye may say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? Lo! we are not to sow, neither are we to gather our increase!
21 Therefore will I command my blessing upon you, in the sixth year, —and it shall make the increase of three years;
22 and ye shall sow, the eighth year, and eat of old store, —until the ninth year until the coming in of the increase thereof, shall ye eat old store.
23 The land moreover shall not be sold beyond recovery, for, mine, is the land, —for, sojourners and settlers, ye are with me.
24 And, in all the land of your possession, a right of redemption, shall ye give to the land.
25 When thy brother waxeth poor, and so selleth aught of his possession, then may his kinsman that is near unto him come in, and redeem that which was sold by his brother.
26 And, when, any man, hath no kinsman, —but his own hand getteth enough, so that he findeth what is needed to redeem it,
27 then shall he reckon the years since he sold it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it, —and shall return to his possession.
28 But, if his hand have not found enough to get it back unto him, then shall that which he sold remain in the hand of him that bought it, until the year of the jubilee, —and shall go out in the jubilee, and he shall return unto his possession.
29 And, when, any man, selleth a dwelling-house in a walled city, then shall his right of redemption remain until the completion of a year after he sold it, —for, [a year of] days, shall his right of redemption remain.
30 But, if it be not redeemed before the end of a full year, then shall the house that is in the city that hath walls be confirmed, beyond recovery, to him who bought it, unto his generations, —it shall not go out in the jubilee.
31 But as for the houses of villages which have no wall round about them, with the fields of land, shall it be reckoned, —a right of redemption, shall belong to it, and, in the jubilee, shall it go out.
32 And as for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, an age-abiding right of redemption, shall pertain unto the Levites.
33 And, if one of the Levites should not redeem, then shall the sale of the house and the city of his possession go out in the jubilee; for, the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession, in the midst of the sons of Israel.
34 But the field of the pasture-land of their cities, shall not be sold, —for an age-abiding possession, it is unto them.
35 And, when thy brother waxeth poor, and his hand becometh feeble with thee, then shalt thou strengthen him, as a sojourner and a settler, so shall he live with thee.
36 Do not accept from him interest or profit, but stand thou in awe of thy God, —so shall thy brother live with thee.
37 Thy silver, shalt thou not give him on interest, —neither, for profit, shalt thou give him thy food.
38 I—Yahweh, am your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, —to give unto you the land of Canaan, to become your God,
39 And when thy brother waxeth poor with thee, and so selleth himself unto thee, thou shalt not bind him with the bondage of a bondman:
40 as a hired servant, as a settler, shall he remain with thee, —until the year of the jubilee, shall he serve with thee:
41 then shall he go forth from thee, he and his sons with him, —and shall return unto his family, and unto the possession of his fathers, shall he return.
42 For, my bondmen, they are, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, —they shall not sell themselves with the sale of a bondman.
43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, —so shalt thou stand in awe of thy God.
44 And as for thy bondman and thy bond-maid which thou shalt have, of the nations that are round about you—from them, may ye buy bondman and bond-maid.
45 Moreover also, of the sons of the settlers who are sojourning with you—of them, may ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land, —so shall they become yours, as a possession;
46 and ye may take them as an inheritance for your sons after you to inherit as a possession, unto times age-abiding, of them, may ye take to be bondmen, —but, over your brethren the sons of Israel—a man over his brother, ye shall not rule, over him with rigour.
47 And, when the hand of the sojourner and settler with thee getteth possessions, and thy brother with him, waxeth poor, —and so he selleth himself to the sojourner [who is] a settler with thee, or to one who hath taken root, of the family of the sojourner,
48 after that he hath sold himself, a right of redemption, pertaineth to him, —one of his brethren, may redeem him;
49 or, his uncle or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or, a near flesh-relation of his, of his family, may redeem him, or, his own hand may have gotten enough, and, so he may redeem himself.
50 Then shall he reckon with him that bought him, from the year that he was sold to him, unto the year of the jubilee, —and the silver for which he was sold shall be by the number of years, according to the days of a hired servant, shall he be with him.
51 If there is yet a multitude of years, according to them, shall he return, as his redemption price, of the silver of him that bought him.
52 Or, if [there is] but a small remainder of years, until the year of the jubilee, then shall he reckon to himself, according to the years thereof, shall he return his price of redemption.
53 As a servant hired year by year, shall he be with him, he shall not rule over him with rigour, before thine eyes.
54 But if he be not redeemed in any of these ways, then shall he go out in the jubilee year, he, and his sons with him.
55 For, unto me, are the sons of Israel, bondmen, my bondmen, they are, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I, Yahweh, am your God.