Leviticus 25
25
The Sabbath Year
1While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, 2“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. 3For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, 4but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. 5And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. 6But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. 7Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.
The Year of Jubilee
8“In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all. 9Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year,#25:9 Hebrew on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement; see 23:27a and the note there. blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land. 10Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. 11This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. 12It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own. 13In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors.
14“When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other. 15When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. 16The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. 17Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the Lord your God.
18“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. 19Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. 20But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ 21Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. 22When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.
Redemption of Property
23“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.
24“With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. 25If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him. 26If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, 27he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land. 28But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.
29“Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back. 30But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. 31But a house in a village—a settlement without fortified walls—will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
32“The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them. 33And any property that is sold by the Levites—all houses within the Levitical towns—must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel. 34The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.
Redemption of the Poor and Enslaved
35“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you. 36Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative. 37Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him. 38I 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“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave. 40Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. 41At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors. 42The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves. 43Show your fear of God by not treating them harshly.
44“However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. 45You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, 46passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.
47“Suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Israelites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family, 48they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother, 49an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back. They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered. 50They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next Year of Jubilee—whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time. 51If many years still remain until the jubilee, they will repay the proper proportion of what they received when they sold themselves. 52If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption. 53The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly. 54If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time. 55For the people of Israel belong 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: NLT
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Leviticus 25
25
The Sabbath Year
1 # ch. 26:46 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into #Ex. 23:10, 11; [ch. 26:34, 35; 2 Chr. 36:21]the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5#[2 Kgs. 19:29]; Isa. 37:30You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6The Sabbath of the land#25:6 That is, the Sabbath produce of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves#25:6 Or servants and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: #ver. 12all its yield shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8“You shall count seven weeks#25:8 Or Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9Then you shall sound #[ch. 23:24; Isa. 27:13] the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. #ch. 23:24, 27On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and #Isa. 61:1; Jer. 34:8, 13, 15, 17; Ezek. 46:17; [Isa. 61:2; 63:4; Luke 4:19] proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of #ch. 27:24; Num. 36:4you shall return to his clan. 11That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it #ver. 4, 5 you shall neither sow nor reap #[See ver. 5 above]what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. #ver. 6, 7You may eat the produce of the field.#25:12 Or countryside
13 # [See ver. 10 above] “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, #[ch. 19:33]you shall not wrong one another. 15#ch. 27:18, 23You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17#ver. 36, 43; ch. 19:14, 32You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.
18 # See ch. 18:4, 5 “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then #ch. 26:5, 6; Deut. 12:10; [Prov. 1:33; Jer. 23:6; Ezek. 34:25, 28]you will dwell in the land securely. 19#Ps. 85:12; Ezek. 34:26, 27 The land will yield its fruit, and #ch. 26:5; Deut. 11:15; [Joel 2:19, 26] you will eat your fill #[See ver. 18 above]and dwell in it securely. 20And if you say, #[Matt. 6:25, 31; Luke 12:22, 29] ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if #ver. 4, 5we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21I will #Deut. 28:8command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22#[2 Kgs. 19:29] When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of #ch. 26:10the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
Redemption of Property
23“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for #Deut. 32:43; 2 Chr. 7:20; Ps. 85:1; Hos. 9:3; Joel 2:18; 3:2the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
25“If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, #Ruth 2:20; 3:9, 12; 4:4, 6; Jer. 32:7, 8then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, 27let #See ver. 50-52him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. 28But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall #ch. 27:21 be released, and #ver. 13, 41he shall return to his property.
29“If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. 30If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations; #[See ver. 28 above]it shall not be released in the jubilee. 31But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and #[See ver. 28 above]they shall be released in the jubilee. 32As for #[Num. 35:2]; See Josh. 21:2-40the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess. 33And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. 34But the fields #Num. 35:2; 1 Chr. 13:2; [Acts 4:36, 37]; See Josh. 21:11-42; 1 Chr. 6:55-81of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.
Kindness for Poor Brothers
35“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, #Deut. 15:7, 8; [Ps. 41:1; 112:5, 9; Prov. 14:31; Acts 11:29; 1 John 3:17]you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36#See Ex. 22:25 Take no interest from him or profit, but #ver. 17, 43; Neh. 5:9; [Mal. 3:5]fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37#[See ver. 36 above]You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38#ver. 42, 55; ch. 22:32, 33; 26:13I 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 #
Ex. 21:2; Deut. 15:12; 1 Kgs. 9:22; 2 Kgs. 4:1; Neh. 5:5 “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41#[See ver. 28 above] Then he shall go out from you, #[Ex. 21:3] he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return #ver. 13, 28to the possession of his fathers. 42For they are #ver. 55; [Rom. 6:22; 1 Cor. 7:23]my servants,#25:42 Hebrew slaves whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43#[Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1] You shall not rule over him #Ex. 1:13, 14; Ezek. 34:4 ruthlessly but #ver. 17, 36shall fear your God. 44As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45#Isa. 14:1, 2; 56:3, 6You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel #Ex. 1:13, 14; Ezek. 34:4you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.
Redeeming a Poor Man
47“If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and #ver. 25, 35, 39your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, 48then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49or his uncle or his cousin may #See Neh. 5:1-5 redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he #ver. 26, 47grows rich he may redeem himself. 50He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be #Job 7:1; Isa. 16:14; 21:16rated as the time of a hired worker. 51If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. 52If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. 53He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. #[See ver. 46 above]He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. 54And if he is not redeemed by these means, then #ver. 41; Ex. 21:2, 3he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. 55For it is #ver. 42to me that the people of Israel are servants.#25:55 Or slaves They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
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