Vayikra 25
25
[BEHAR]
1And Hashem spoke unto Moshe in Mt. Sinai, saying,
2Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, and say unto them, When ye come into HaAretz which I give you, then shall HaAretz observe a Shabbos rest unto Hashem.
3Six years thou shalt sow thy sadeh, and six years thou shalt prune thy kerem, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4But in the Shanah HaShevi'it shall be a Shabbos Shabbaton unto HaAretz, a Shabbos unto Hashem; thou shalt neither sow thy sadeh, nor prune thy kerem (vineyard).
5That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy untended vine; for it is Shnat Shabbaton unto HaAretz.
6And the Shabbos of HaAretz shall be food for you; for thee, and for thy eved, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy toshav (guest) that sojourneth with thee.
7And for thy cattle, and for the wild animals that are in thy land, shall all the tevuah (increase) thereof be to eat.
8And thou shalt count seven Shabbatot of shanim unto thee, seven times seven shanim; and the period of the sheva Shabbatot of shanim shall be unto thee forty and nine shanim.
9Then shalt thou cause the shofar to sound a broken blast on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Yom HaKippurim shall ye make the shofar sound throughout all your land.
10And ye shall treat as kodesh the fiftieth year, and proclaim deror (freedom) throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Yovel (Jubilee) unto you; and ye shall return every man unto the ancestral heritage of his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his mishpochah.
11A Yovel shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy untended vine,
12For it is the Yovel; it shall be kodesh unto you; ye shall eat the tevuah (increase) thereof out of the sadeh.
13In this Shnat Yovel ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbor, or buyest ought of thy neighborʼs hand, ye shall not take advantage of one another.
15According to the number of shanim after the Yovel thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of shanim of the tevuot (harvests, increases) he shall sell unto thee.
16According to the multitude of shanim thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of shanim thou shalt diminish the price of it; for according to the number of the shanim of the tevuot doth he sell unto thee.
17Ye shall not therefore take advantage of one another; but thou shalt fear Eloheicha: for I am Hashem Eloheichem.
18Wherefore ye shall do My chukkot, and be shomer over My mishpatim, and do them; and ye shall dwell in HaAretz in safety.
19And HaAretz shall yield her pri, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20And if ye shall say, What shall we eat in the shanah hashevi'it? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our tevuah;
21Then I will command Birkhati (My Blessing) upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth the tevuah for shalosh hashanim.
22And ye shall sow the shanah hasheminit, and eat yet of tevuah yashan (old increase) until the ninth year; until her harvest come in, ye shall eat of the yashan (old).
23HaAretz shall not be sold permanently: for HaAretz is Mine, for ye are gerim and toshavim with Me.
24And in all the eretz of your possession ye shall grant a Geulah for HaAretz.
25If thy brother become poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and his Go'el HaKarov (Near Kinsman Redeemer) come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
26And if the man does not have for him a Go'el, and himself be able to effect the Geulah,
27Then let him count the shanim from the sale thereof, and refund the balance unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.
28But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the Shnat HaYovel; and in the Yovel it shall be returned, and he shall return unto his possession.
29And if a man sell a bais moshav in a walled city, then he retains the right of Geulah a full year after its sale; within a full year may he redeem it.
30And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the bais that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it throughout his dorot; it shall not return in the Yovel.
31But the batim (houses) of the villages which have no chomah (wall) round about them shall be considered as the fields of the country; Geulah shall be for it, and in the Yovel it must return.
32Notwithstanding, the towns of the Levi'im, and the batim (houses) of the towns of their possession, there is a Geulat Olam for the Levi'im.
33And what one will buy from the Levi'im, the bais that was sold, and the town of his possession, shall be released in the year of Yovel; for the batim of the towns of the Levi'im are their possession among the Bnei Yisroel.
34But the sadeh of the open land of their towns may not be sold; for it is their achuzzat olam (perpetual heritage).
35And if thy brother become poor, and his hand fails with thee; then thou shalt strengthen him; yea, though he be a ger, or a toshav; that he may live among thee.
36Take thou no neshekh of him, or increase; but fear Eloheicha; that thy brother may live among thee.
37Thou shalt not lend him thy kesef at neshekh, nor give him thy food for increase.
38I am Hashem Eloheichem, which brought you forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim, to give you Eretz Kena'an, and to be Elohim unto you.
39And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee become poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to do avodat eved;
40But as a sakhir, and as a toshav, he shall be among thee, and shall serve thee unto the Shnat HaYovel.
41And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his banim with him, and shall return unto his own mishpochah, and unto the Achuzzat of his Avot shall he return.
42For they are My Eved, which I brought forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim; they shall not be sold in the manner of an eved.
43Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor; but shalt fear Eloheicha.
44Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the Goyim that are round about you; of them shall ye buy eved and amah.
45Moreover of the bnei hatoshavim that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their mishpachot that are among you, which they fathered in your land; and they shall be your possession.
46And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your banim after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen forever; but over your brethren, the Bnei Yisroel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigor.
47And if a ger or toshav grow rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him grow poor, and sell himself unto the foreigner among thee, or to the eker (member) mishpachat of the ger;
48After that he is sold, his Geulah remains; one of his brethren may redeem him,
49Either his dod, or ben dod of him, may redeem him, or any that is near of kin unto him of his mishpachat may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.
50And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the Shnat HaYovel; and the price of his release shall be based on the number of shanim, according to the value of a sakhirʼs pay shall it be with him.
51If there be yet many shanim remaining, according unto them he shall give for his Geulah the kesef that he was bought for.
52And if there remain but few shanim unto the Shnat HaYovel, then he shall count that, and according unto his shanim shall he pay the price of his Geulah.
53And as a sakhir hired shanah b'shanah shall he be with him; and the other shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.
54And if he be not redeemed in these shanim, then he shall be released in the Shnat HaYovel, both he, and his banim with him.
55For unto Me the Bnei Yisroel are avadim; they are My avadim whom I brought forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim: I am Hashem Eloheichem.
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Vayikra 25: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
Leviticus 25
25
The Seventh Year
(Deuteronomy 15.1-11)
1 #
Ex 23.10,11. When Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord told him 2to say to the community of Israel:
After you enter the land that I am giving you, it must be allowed to rest one year out of every seven. 3You may raise grain and grapes for six years, 4but the seventh year you must let your fields and vineyards rest in honor of me, your Lord. 5This is to be a time of complete rest for your fields and vineyards, so don't harvest anything they produce. 6-7However, you and your slaves and your hired workers, as well as any domestic or wild animals, may eat whatever grows on its own.
The Year of Celebration
The Lord said to his people:
8Once every 49 years 9on the tenth day of the seventh month,#25.9 seventh month: See the note at 16.29. which is also the Great Day of Forgiveness,#25.9 Great Day of Forgiveness: See the note at 16.34. trumpets are to be blown everywhere in the land. 10This fiftieth year#25.10 fiftieth year: The year following seven periods of seven years. is sacred—it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families. 11This is a year of complete celebration, so don't plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce. 12In this time of sacred celebration you may eat only what grows on its own.
13During this year, all property must go back to its original owner. 14-15So when you buy or sell farmland, the price is to be determined by the number of crops it can produce before the next Year of Celebration. Don't try to cheat. 16If it is a long time before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher, because what is really being sold are the crops that the land can produce. 17I am the Lord your God, so obey me and don't cheat anyone.
18-19If you obey my laws and teachings, you will live safely in the land and enjoy its abundant crops. 20Don't ever worry about what you will eat during the seventh year when you are forbidden to plant or harvest. 21I will see to it that you harvest enough in the sixth year to last for three years. 22In the eighth year you will live on what you harvested in the sixth year, but in the ninth year you will eat what you plant and harvest in the eighth year.
23No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me—it isn't your land, and you only live there for a little while.
24When property is being sold, the original owner must be given the first chance to buy it.
25If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back, 26if that relative has the money. Later, if you can afford to buy it, 27you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again. 28But if you don't have the money to pay the present owner a fair price, you will have to wait until the Year of Celebration, when the property will once again become yours.
29If you sell a house in a walled city, you have only one year in which to buy it back. 30If you don't buy it back before that year is up, it becomes the permanent property of the one who bought it, and it will not be returned to you in the Year of Celebration. 31But a house out in a village may be bought back at any time just like a field. And it must be returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration. 32If any Levites own houses inside a walled city, they will always have the right to buy them back. 33And any houses that they do not buy back will be returned to them in the Year of Celebration, because these homes are their permanent property among the people of Israel. 34No pastureland owned by the Levi tribe can ever be sold; it is their permanent possession.
Help for the Poor
The Lord said:
35 #
Dt 15.7,8. If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. 36-37#Ex 22.25; Dt 23.19,20. Don't take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live. 38Remember—I am the Lord your God! I rescued you from Egypt and gave you the land of Canaan, so that I would be your God.
39 #
Ex 21.2-6; Dt 15.12-18. Suppose some of your people become so poor that they have to sell themselves and become your slaves. 40Then you must treat them as servants, rather than as slaves. And in the Year of Celebration they are to be set free, 41so they and their children may return home to their families and property. 42I brought them out of Egypt to be my servants, not to be sold as slaves. 43So obey me, and don't be cruel to the poor.
44If you want slaves, buy them from other nations 45or from the foreigners who live in your own country, and make them your property. 46You can own them, and even leave them to your children when you die, but do not make slaves of your own people or be cruel to them.
47Even if some of you Israelites become so much in debt that you must sell yourselves to foreigners in your country, 48you still have the right to be set free by a relative, such as a brother 49or uncle or cousin, or some other family member. In fact, if you ever get enough money, you may buy your own freedom 50by paying your owner for the number of years you would still be a slave before the next Year of Celebration. 51-52The longer the time until then, the more you will have to pay. 53And even while you are the slaves of foreigners in your own country, your people must make sure that you are not mistreated. 54If you cannot gain your freedom in any of these ways, both you and your children will still be set free in the Year of Celebration. 55People of Israel, I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt to be my own servants.
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