Leviticus 25
1 And Yahweh spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying—
The Lord told 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.
“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.
3 Six years, shalt thou sow thy field, and, six years, shalt thou prune thy vineyard, —and gather the increase thereof;
Six years you can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your 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 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.
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.
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.
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;
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,
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 to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used 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.
Count seven ‘sabbaths’ of years, in other words, seven times seven years, so that the seven sabbaths of years come 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 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
12 For, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, —out of the field, shall ye eat her increase.
It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces.
13 In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession.
In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your 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 sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit 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;
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.
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.
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.
17 So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, —for, I—Yahweh, am your God.
Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your God, because 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;
Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety 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 produce good harvest, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there.
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!
But if you ask, ‘What are we going to in the seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our crops?’
21 Therefore will I command my blessing upon you, in the sixth year, —and it shall make the increase of three years;
I will bless you in the sixth year, so that the land will produce a crop that will be enough 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.
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.
23 The land moreover shall not be sold beyond recovery, for, mine, is the land, —for, sojourners and settlers, ye are with me.
Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through.
24 And, in all the land of your possession, a right of redemption, shall ye give to the land.
So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.
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 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.
26 And, when, any man, hath no kinsman, —but his own hand getteth enough, so that he findeth what is needed to redeem it,
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,
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.
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them.
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.
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.
34 But the field of the pasture-land of their cities, shall not be sold, —for an age-abiding possession, it is unto them.
However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
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.
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.
36 Do not accept from him interest or profit, but stand thou in awe of thy God, —so shall thy brother live with thee.
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.
37 Thy silver, shalt thou not give him on interest, —neither, for profit, shalt thou give him thy food.
Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price.
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,
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.
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 any of your people become poor and have to sell themselves to work for you, don't force them to work as a slave.
40 as a hired servant, as a settler, shall he remain with thee, —until the year of the jubilee, shall he serve with thee:
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.
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 they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property.
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.
Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt.
43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, —so shalt thou stand in awe of thy God.
Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for 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.
Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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,
48 after that he hath sold himself, a right of redemption, pertaineth to him, —one of his brethren, may redeem him;
they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back—
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.
an uncle or cousin or any close relative from their family can buy them back. If they become successful, they can buy themselves back.
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.
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.
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 there are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the 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 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.
53 As a servant hired year by year, shall he be with him, he shall not rule over him with rigour, before thine eyes.
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.
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.
If they are not bought back in any of the ways described, they and their children shall be freed in the Jubilee Year.
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 belong to me as my slaves. They are my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
