Leviticus 25
25
The Sabbath of the Seventh Year
1And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount #Lev. 26:46Sinai, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall #Lev. 26:34, 35keep a sabbath to the Lord. 3Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4but in the #Deut. 15:1; Neh. 10:31seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn #(Heb. 4:9)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5#2 Kin. 19:29What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; #Lev. 23:24, 27on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and #Is. 61:2; 63:4; Jer. 34:8, 15, 17; (Luke 4:19)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, #Lev. 25:13, 28, 54; Num. 36:4and each of you shall return to his family. 11That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it #Lev. 25:5you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; #Lev. 25:6, 7you shall eat its produce from the field.
13#Lev. 25:10; 27:24; Num. 36:4‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. 14And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not #Lev. 19:13oppress one another. 15#Lev. 27:18, 23According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. 16According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17Therefore #Lev. 25:14; Prov. 14:31; 22:22; Jer. 7:5, 6; 1 Thess. 4:6you shall not oppress one another, #Lev. 19:14, 32; 25:43but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
Provisions for the Seventh Year
18#Lev. 19:37‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; #Lev. 26:5; Deut. 12:10; Ps. 4:8; Jer. 23:6and you will dwell in the land in safety. 19Then the land will yield its fruit, and #Lev. 26:5; Ezek. 34:25you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.
20‘And if you say, #Matt. 6:25, 31“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since #Lev. 25:4, 5we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21Then I will #Deut. 28:8command My blessing on you in the #Ex. 16:29sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22#2 Kin. 19:29And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat #Lev. 26:10; Josh. 5:11old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
Redemption of Property
23‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for #Ex. 19:5; 2 Chr. 7:20the land is Mine; for you are #Gen. 23:4; Ex. 6:4; 1 Chr. 29:15; Ps. 39:12; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11strangers and sojourners with Me. 24And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
25#Ruth 2:20; 4:4, 6‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if #Num. 5:8; Ruth 3:2, 9, 12; (Job 19:25); Jer. 32:7, 8his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27then #Lev. 25:50–52let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; #Lev. 25:10, 13and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
29‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32Nevertheless #Num. 35:1–8; Josh. 21:2the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34But #Num. 35:2–5the field of the common-land of their cities may not be #Acts 4:36, 37sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
Lending to the Poor
35‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall #Deut. 15:7–11; 24:14, 15; Luke 6:35; 1 John 3:17help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36#Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19, 20Take no usury or interest from him; but #Neh. 5:9fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38#Lev. 11:45; 22:32, 33I 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.
The Law Concerning Slavery
39‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41And then he shall depart from you—he and his children #Ex. 21:3with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42For they are #Lev. 25:55; (Rom. 6:22; 1 Cor. 7:22, 23)My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43#Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1You shall not rule over him #Ex. 1:13, 14; Lev. 25:46, 53; Ezek. 34:4with rigor, but you #Ex. 1:17; Deut. 25:18; Mal. 3:5shall fear your God. 44And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45Moreover you may buy #(Is. 56:3, 6, 7)the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46And #Is. 14:2you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.
47‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be #Job 7:1; Is. 16:14according to the time of a hired servant for him. 51If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. 52And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. 53He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. 55For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
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Leviticus 25: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 25
25
The sabbatical year
1The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Once you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must celebrate a sabbath rest to the LORD. 3You will plant your fields for six years, and prune your vineyards and gather their crops for six years. 4But in the seventh year the land will have a special sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the LORD: You must not plant your fields or prune your vineyards. 5You must not harvest the secondary growth of your produce or gather the grapes of your freely growing vines. It will be a year of special rest for the land. 6Whatever the land produces during its sabbath will be your food—for you, for your male and female servants, and for your hired laborers and foreign guests who live with you, 7as well as for your livestock and for the wild animals in your land. All of the land’s produce can be eaten.
The Jubilee year
8Count off seven weeks of years—that is, seven times seven—so that the seven weeks of years totals forty-nine years. 9Then have the trumpet#25.9 Heb shofar blown on the tenth day of the seventh month.#25.9 September–October, Tishrei Have the trumpet blown throughout your land on the Day of Reconciliation. 10You will make the fiftieth year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee year#25.10 Heb yobel for you: each of you must return to your family property and to your extended family. 11The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee year for you. Do not plant, do not harvest the secondary growth, and do not gather from the freely growing vines 12because it is a Jubilee: it will be holy to you. You can eat only the produce directly out of the field. 13Each of you must return to your family property in this year of Jubilee.
14When you sell something to or buy something from your fellow citizen, you must not cheat each other. 15You will buy from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since the Jubilee; he will sell to you according to the number of years left for harvests. 16You will raise the price if there are more years, or lower the price if there are less years because it is the number of harvests that are being sold to you. 17You must not cheat each other but fear your God because I am the LORD your God. 18You will observe my rules, and you will keep my regulations and do them so that you can live securely on the land.
Food during fallow years
19The land will give its fruit so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 20Suppose you ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t plant or gather our crops then?” 21I will send my blessing on you in the sixth year so that it will make enough produce for three years. 22You can plant again in the eighth year and eat food from the previous year’s produce until the ninth year. Until its produce comes, you will eat the food from the previous year.
Buying back family property
23The land must not be permanently sold because the land is mine. You are just immigrants and foreign guests of mine.
24Throughout the whole land that you possess, you must allow for the land to be bought back. 25When one of your fellow Israelites faces financial difficulty and must sell part of their family property, the closest relative#25.25 Or next of kin; traditionally redeemer will come and buy back what their fellow Israelite has sold. 26If the person doesn’t have someone to buy it back, but then manages to afford buying it back, 27they must calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the person to whom they sold it. Then it will go back to the family property.#25.27 Or they will go back to their family property; also in 25:28. 28If they cannot afford to make a refund to the buyer, whatever was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Jubilee year. It will be released in the Jubilee year, at which point it will return to the family property.
29When a person sells a home in a walled city, it may be bought back until a year after its sale. The period for buying it back will be one year. 30If it is not bought back before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city will belong to the buyer permanently and their descendants forever. It will not be released at the Jubilee. 31But houses in settlements that are unwalled will be considered as if they were country fields. They can be bought back, and they must be released at the Jubilee.
32Levites will always have the right to buy back homes in the levitical cities that are part of their family property. 33Levite property that can be bought back—houses sold in a city that is their family property—must be released at the Jubilee, because homes in levitical cities are the Levites’ family property among the Israelites. 34But the pastureland around their cities cannot be sold, because that is their permanent family property.
Poor Israelites and slavery
35If one of your fellow Israelites faces financial difficulty and is in a shaky situation with you,#25.35 Heb uncertain you must assist them as you would an immigrant or foreign guest so that they can survive among you. 36Do not take interest from them, or any kind of profit from interest, but fear your God so that your fellow Israelite can survive among you. 37Do not lend a poor Israelite money with interest or lend food at a profit. 38I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you Canaan’s land and to be your God.
39If one of your fellow Israelites faces financial difficulty with you and sells themselves to you, you must not make him work as a slave. 40Instead, they will be like a hired laborer or foreign guest to you. They will work for you until the Jubilee year, 41at which point the poor Israelite along with their children will be released from you. They can return to their extended family and to their family property. 42You must do this because these people are my servants—I brought them out of Egypt’s land. They must not be sold as slaves. 43You will not harshly rule over them but must fear your God.
44Regarding male or female slaves that you are allowed to have: You can buy a male or a female slave from the nations that are around you. 45You can also buy them from the foreign guests who live with you and from their extended families that are with you, who were born in your land. These can belong to you as property. 46You can pass them on to your children as inheritance that they can own as permanent property. You can make these people work as slaves, but you must not rule harshly over your own people, the Israelites.
47If an immigrant or foreign guest prospers financially among you, but your fellow Israelite faces financial difficulty and so sells themselves to the immigrant or foreign guest, or to a descendant of a foreigner, 48the Israelite will have the right to be bought back after they sold themselves. One of their relatives can buy them back: 49their uncle or cousin can buy them back; one of their blood relatives from their family can buy them back; or they may be able to afford their own purchase. 50The Israelite will calculate with their owner the time from the year they were sold until the Jubilee year. The price of their release will be based on the number of years they were with the owner, as in the case of a hired laborer. 51If there are many years left before the Jubilee, the Israelite will pay for their purchase in proportion to their purchase price. 52If only a few years are left, they will calculate that and pay for their purchase according to the years of service. 53Regardless, the Israelite will be to the buyer like a yearly laborer; the buyer must not harshly rule over them in your sight. 54If the Israelite is not bought back in one of these ways, they and their children must be released in the Jubilee year 55because the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants—I brought them out of Egypt’s land; I am the LORD your God.
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