Leviticus 25
25
The Time of Rest for the Land
1The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2“Tell the people of Israel this: ‘When you enter the land I will give you, let it have a special time of rest, to honor the Lord. 3You may plant seed in your field for six years, and you may trim your vineyards for six years and bring in their fruits. 4But during the seventh year, you must let the land rest. This will be a special time to honor the Lord. You must not plant seed in your field or trim your vineyards. 5You must not cut the crops that grow by themselves after harvest, or gather the grapes from your vines that are not trimmed. The land will have a year of rest.
6“ ‘You may eat whatever the land produces during that year of rest. It will be food for your men and women servants, for your hired workers, and for the foreigners living in your country. 7It will also be food for your cattle and the wild animals of your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee
8“ ‘Count off seven groups of seven years, or forty-nine years. During that time there will be seven years of rest for the land. 9On the Day of Cleansing, you must blow the horn of a male sheep; this will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. You must blow the horn through the whole country. 10Make the fiftieth year a special year, and announce freedom for all the people living in your country. This time will be called Jubilee. You will each go back to your own property, each to your own family and family group. 11The fiftieth year will be a special time for you to celebrate. Don’t plant seeds, or harvest the crops that grow by themselves, or gather grapes from the vines that are not trimmed. 12That year is Jubilee; it will be a holy time for you. You may eat only the crops that come from the field. 13In the year of Jubilee you each must go back to your own property.
14“ ‘If you sell your land to your neighbor, or if you buy land from your neighbor, don’t cheat each other. 15If you want to buy your neighbor’s land, count the number of years since the last Jubilee, and use that number to decide the right price. If your neighbor sells the land to you, count the number of years left for harvesting crops, and use that number to decide the right price. 16If there are many years, the price will be high. But if there are only a few years, lower the price, because your neighbor is really selling only a few crops to you. 17You must not cheat each other, but you must respect your God. I am the Lord your God.
18“ ‘Remember my laws and rules, and obey them so that you will live safely in the land. 19The land will give good crops to you, and you will eat as much as you want and live safely in the land.
20“ ‘But you might ask, “If we don’t plant seeds or gather crops, what will we eat the seventh year?” 21I will send you such a great blessing during the sixth year that the land will produce enough crops for three years. 22When you plant in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the old crop; you will eat the old crop until the harvest of the ninth year.
Property Laws
23“ ‘The land really belongs to me, so you can’t sell it for all time. You are only foreigners and travelers living for a while on my land. 24People might sell their land, but it must always be possible for the family to get its land back. 25If a person in your country becomes very poor and sells some land, then close relatives must come and buy it back. 26If there is not a close relative to buy the land back, but if the person makes enough money to be able to buy it back, 27the years must be counted since the land was sold. That number must be used to decide how much the first owner should pay back the one who bought it. Then the land will belong to the first owner again. 28But if there is not enough money to buy it back, the one who bought it will keep it until the year of Jubilee. During that celebration, the land will go back to the first owner’s family.
29“ ‘If someone sells a home in a walled city, for a full year after it is sold, the person has the right to buy it back. 30But if the owner does not buy back the house before a full year is over, it will belong to the one who bought it and to his future sons. The house will not go back to the first owner at Jubilee. 31But houses in small towns without walls are like open country; they can be bought back, and they must be returned to their first owner at Jubilee.
32“ ‘The Levites may always buy back their houses in the cities that belong to them. 33If someone buys a house from a Levite, that house in the Levites’ city will again belong to the Levites in the Jubilee. This is because houses in Levite cities belong to the people of Levi; the Israelites gave these cities to them. 34Also the fields and pastures around the Levites’ cities cannot be sold, because those fields belong to the Levites forever.
Rules for Slave Owners
35“ ‘If anyone from your country becomes too poor to support himself, help him to live among you as you would a stranger or foreigner. 36Do not charge him any interest on money you loan to him, but respect your God; let the poor live among you. 37Don’t lend him money for interest, and don’t try to make a profit from the food he buys. 38I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give the land of Canaan to you and to become your God.
39“ ‘If anyone from your country becomes very poor and sells himself as a slave to you, you must not make him work like a slave. 40He will be like a hired worker and a visitor with you until the year of Jubilee. 41Then he may leave you, take his children, and go back to his family and the land of his ancestors. 42This is because the Israelites are my servants, and I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They must not become slaves again. 43You must not rule this person cruelly, but you must respect your God.
44“ ‘Your men and women slaves must come from other nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45Also you may buy as slaves children from the families of foreigners living in your land. These child slaves will belong to you, 46and you may even pass them on to your children after you die; you can make them slaves forever. But you must not rule cruelly over your own people, the Israelites.
47“ ‘Suppose a foreigner or visitor among you becomes rich. If someone in your country becomes so poor that he has to sell himself as a slave to the foreigner living among you or to a member of the foreigner’s family, 48the poor person has the right to be bought back and become free. One of his relatives may buy him back: 49His uncle, his uncle’s son, or any one of his close relatives may buy him back. Or, if he gets enough money, he may pay the money to free himself.
50“ ‘He and the one who bought him must count the time from when he sold himself up to the next year of Jubilee. Use that number to decide the price, because the person really only hired himself out for a certain number of years. 51If there are still many years before the year of Jubilee, the person must pay back a large part of the price. 52If there are only a few years left until Jubilee, the person must pay a small part of the first price. 53But he will live like a hired person with the foreigner every year; don’t let the foreigner rule cruelly over him.
54“ ‘Even if no one buys him back, at the year of Jubilee, he and his children will become free. 55This is because the people of Israel are servants to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
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Leviticus 25: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 25
25
1The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai, 2“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. 3Six years you can cultivate your fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops. 4But 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. 5Don'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. 6You 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, 7and to your livestock and the wild animals living in your land. Whatever grows can be used for food.
8Count seven ‘sabbaths’ of years, in other words, seven times seven years, so that the seven sabbaths of years come to forty-nine years. 9Then 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. 10You 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.#25:10. This meant that whatever property had been sold during the previous 50 years now reverted back to its original owner, and that anyone who had become a slave was set free and allowed to return to their own family. 11The 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. 12It is a Jubilee and it is to be holy to you. You can eat whatever the land produces. 13In this Jubilee Year, every one of you shall return to your own property.
14If you sell land to your neighbor, or buy land from him, don't exploit one another. 15When 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. 16The 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. 17Don't exploit one another, but have respect for your God, because I am the Lord your God.
18Keep my rules and observe my regulations, so you can live in safety in the land. 19Then the land will produce good harvests, so you will have plenty to eat and live in safety there. 20But if you ask, ‘What are we going to do in the seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our crops?’ 21I will bless you in the sixth year, so that the land will produce a crop that will be enough for three years. 22As you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating from that harvest, which will last until your harvest in the ninth year.
23Land must not be permanently sold, because it really belongs to me. To me you are only foreigners and travelers passing through. 24So whatever land you buy to own, you must make arrangements so it can be returned to its original owner.#25:24. “Returned to its original owner”: literally, “the redemption of the land.” 25If 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. 26However, 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, 27they will work however 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 28If 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 Year the land will be returned so that the original owners can go back to their property.
29If 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. 30If it isn't bought back by 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. 31But 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.
32However, the Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in the towns that belong to them. 33Whatever 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. 34However, the fields surrounding their towns must not be sold because they belong to the Levites permanently.
35If any of your people become poor and can't survive,#25:35. “Can't survive”: literally, “his hand has failed.” 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. 36Don'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. 37Don't lend them silver with interest or sell them food at an inflated price. 38Remember, I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39If any of your people become poor and have to sell themselves to work for you, don't force them to work as a slave. 40Have 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. 41Then they and their children must be freed, and they can go back to their family and to their family's property. 42Israelites are not to be sold as slaves because they belong to me as my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. 43Don't treat them with brutality. Have respect for your God.
44Buy your male and female slaves from the surrounding nations. 45You 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. 46You 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.
47If 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, 48they still have the right of being bought back after the sale. A member of their family can buy them back— 49an uncle or cousin or any close relative from their family can buy them back. If they become successful, they can buy themselves back. 50The 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. 51If there are many years left, they must pay a larger percentage of the purchase price. 52If 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. 53They 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. 54If they are not bought back in any of the ways described, they and their children shall be freed in the Jubilee Year. 55For the Israelites belong to me as my slaves. They are my slaves—I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com