Leviticus 25
1 And Yahweh spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying—
Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
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.
“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, shalt thou sow thy field, and, six years, shalt thou prune thy vineyard, —and gather the increase thereof;
For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.
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;
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, 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.
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 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;
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 unto thy tame-beasts, and unto the wild-beasts that are in thy land, shall belong all the increase thereof for food.
and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof.
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, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, —out of the field, shall ye eat her increase.
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 same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession.
In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.
14 And when ye sell anything to thy neighbour, or buy aught at thy neighbour’s hand, do not overreach one another.
If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.
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;
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, 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.
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 So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, —for, I—Yahweh, am 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 my regulations, shall ye observe and do them, —so shall ye dwell upon the land with confidence;
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 to the full, —and shall dwell with confidence thereupon.
Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.
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!
Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
21 Therefore will I command my blessing upon you, in the sixth year, —and it shall make the increase of 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 old store, —until the ninth year until the coming in of the increase thereof, shall ye eat 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 The land moreover shall not be sold beyond recovery, for, mine, is the land, —for, sojourners and settlers, ye are 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, a right of redemption, shall ye give to the land.
Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of 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.
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, when, any man, hath no kinsman, —but his own hand getteth enough, so that he findeth what is needed 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 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.
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 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.
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, 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 field of the pasture-land of their cities, shall not be sold, —for an age-abiding possession, it is unto them.
But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.
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.
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 Do not accept from him interest or profit, but stand thou in awe of thy God, —so shall thy brother live with thee.
Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.
37 Thy silver, shalt thou not give him on interest, —neither, for profit, shalt thou give him thy food.
You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.
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,
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 when thy brother waxeth poor with thee, and so selleth himself unto thee, thou shalt not bind him with the bondage of a bondman:
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, as a settler, shall he remain with thee, —until the year of the jubilee, shall he serve with thee:
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 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.
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, 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.
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, —so shalt thou stand in awe of thy God.
You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your 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.
Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.
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;
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 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.
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, 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,
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 hath sold himself, a right of redemption, pertaineth to him, —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, 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.
either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, 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.
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 is yet a multitude of years, according to them, shall he return, as his redemption price, of the silver of him that bought him.
If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.
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.
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 over him with rigour, before thine eyes.
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 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.
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, 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.
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.
