Leviticus 25
25
1And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying:
2Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the sabbath to the Lord.
3Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof.
4But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord. Thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5What the ground shall bring forth of itself thou shalt not reap: neither shalt thou gather the grapes of the first-fruits as a vintage. For it is a year of rest to the land.
6But they shall be unto you for meat, to thee and to thy man-servant, to thy maid-servant and thy hireling, and to the strangers that sojourn with thee.
7All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.
8Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years: that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years.
9And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land.
10And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family:
11Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the first-fruits of the vines,
12Because of the sanctification of the jubilee. But as they grow you shall presently eat them.
13In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions.
14When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him; grieve not thy brother. But thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee.
15And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.
16The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits.
17Do not afflict your countrymen: but let every one fear his God. Because I am the Lord your God.
18Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear.
19And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no man's invasion.
20But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits?
21I will give you my blessing the sixth year: and it shall yield the fruits of three years.
22And the eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, until the ninth year: till new grow up, you shall eat the old store.
23The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me.
24For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption.
25If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will: he may redeem what he had sold.
26But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it:
27The value of the fruits shall be counted from that time when he sold it. And the overplus he shall restore to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again.
28But if his hands find not the means to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor.
29He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired.
30If he redeem it not, and the whole year be fully out, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it cannot be redeemed, not even in the jubilee.
31But if the house be in a village, that hath no walls, it shall be sold according to the same law as the fields. If it be not redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the owner.
32The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed.
33If they be not redeemed, in the jubilee they shall all return to the owners: because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possessions among the children of Israel.
34But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a perpetual possession.
35If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee:
36Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest. Fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
37Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury: nor exact of him any increase of fruits.
38I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Chanaan, and might be your God.
39If thy brother constrained by poverty sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants.
40But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee.
41And afterwards he shall go out with his children: and shall return to his kindred and to the possession of his fathers.
42For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen.
43Afflict him not by might: but fear thy God.
44Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you:
45And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land. These you shall have for servants:
46And by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.
47If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race:
48After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him:
49Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall redeem himself:
50Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant.
51If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price.
52If few, he shall make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years: and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth of the years.
53His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight.
54And if by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children.
55For the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt.
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Leviticus 25: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Leviticus 25
25
The Time of Rest for the Land
1The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai. He said, 2“Tell the people of Israel this: ‘I will give you land. When you enter it, let it have a special time of rest. This will be to honor the Lord. 3You may plant seed in your field for six years. 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. You must not 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. It will be food for your hired workers and 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 7 years. This will be 49 years. During that time there will be 7 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. Announce freedom for all the people living in your country. This time will be called Jubilee.# This word comes from the Hebrew word for a horn of a male sheep. Each of you will go back to his own property. And each of you will go back to his own family and family group. 11The fiftieth year will be a special time for you to celebrate. Don’t plant seeds. Don’t harvest the crops that grow by themselves. Don’t gather grapes from the vines that are not trimmed. 12That year is Jubilee. It will be a holy time for you. You may eat the crops that come from the field. 13In the year of Jubilee each person will go back to his own property.
14“‘Don’t cheat your neighbor when you sell your land to him. And don’t let him cheat you when you buy land from him. 15You might want to buy your neighbor’s land. If you do, count the number of years since the last Jubilee. Use that number to decide the right price. If he sells the land to you, count the number of years left for harvesting crops. Use that number to decide the right price. 16If there are many years, the price will be high. If there are only a few years, lower the price. This is because your neighbor is really selling only a few crops to you. At the next Jubilee the land will again belong to his family. 17You must not cheat each other. You respect your God. I am the Lord your God.
18“‘Remember my laws and rules, and obey them. Then you will live safely in the land. 19The land will give good crops to you. You will eat as much as you want. And you will 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?” 21Don’t worry. I will send you a great blessing during the sixth year. That year the land will produce enough crops for 3 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 forever. You are only foreigners and travelers living for a time on my land. 24People might sell their land. But the family will always get its land back. 25A person in your country might become very poor. He might be so poor that he must sell his land. So his close relatives must come and buy it back for him. 26A person might not have a close relative to buy back his land for him. But he might get enough money to buy it back himself. 27He must count the years since the land was sold. He must use that number to decide how much to pay for the land. Then he may buy it back. And the land will be his again. 28But he might not find enough money to buy it back for himself. Then the one who bought it will keep it until the year of Jubilee. But during that celebration, the land will go back to the first owner’s family.
29“‘Someone may sell a home in a walled city. But, for a full year after he sold it, he has the right to buy it back. 30But the owner might not buy back the house before a full year is over. If he doesn’t, the house in the walled city will belong to the one who bought it. It will belong 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. This is true in the cities which belong to them. 33Someone might buy a house from a Levite. But 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 people of Israel gave these cities to the Levites. 34Also the fields and pastures around the Levites’ cities cannot be sold. Those fields belong to the Levites forever.
Rules for Slave Owners
35“‘Someone from your country might become 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. Respect your God. And let the poor man live among you. 37Don’t lend him money for interest. Don’t try to make a profit from the food he buys. 38I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. I did it to give the land of Canaan to you and to become your God.
39“‘Someone from your country might become very poor. He might even sell himself as a slave to you. If he does, you must not make him work like a slave. 40He will be like a hired worker. And he will be like a visitor with you until the year of Jubilee. 41Then he may leave you. He may take his children and go back to his family and the land of his ancestors. 42This is because the Israelites are my servants. I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They must not become slaves again. 43You must not rule this person cruelly. You must respect your God.
44“‘You may buy men and women slaves from other nations around you. 45Also you may buy children as slaves. These children must come from the families of foreigners living in your land. These child slaves will belong to you. 46You may even pass these foreign slaves on to your children after you die. You can make them slaves forever. But you must not rule cruelly over your own brothers, the Israelites.
47“‘A foreigner or visitor among you might become rich. And someone in your country might become poor. The poor man might sell himself as a slave to a foreigner living among you. Or he might sell himself to a member of a foreigner’s family. 48The poor man has the right to be bought back and become free. One of his relatives may buy him back. 49His uncle or his uncle’s son may buy him back. One of his close relatives may buy him back. Or if he gets enough money, he may pay the money himself. Then he will be free again.
50“‘How do you decide the price? You must count the years from the time he sold himself to the foreigner. And count up to the next year of Jubilee. Use that number to decide the price. This is because the person really only hired himself out for a certain number of years. 51There might still be many years before the year of Jubilee. If so, the person must pay back a large part of the price. 52There might only be a few years left until Jubilee. If so, the person must pay a small part of the first price. 53But he will live like a hired man with the foreigner every year. Don’t let the foreigner rule cruelly over him.
54“‘That person will become free, 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 my servants. I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
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