Leviticus 25
25
The Year to Honor the LORD
1The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2“Tell the Israelites: When you come into the land I’m giving you, the land will celebrate a year to honor the Lord. 3Then, for six years you may plant crops in your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather what they produce. 4However, the seventh year will be a festival year for the land. It will be a year to honor the Lord. Don’t plant crops in your fields or prune your vineyards. 5Don’t harvest what grows by itself or harvest grapes from your vines. That year will be a festival for the land. 6Whatever the land produces during that year is for all of you to eat—for you, your male and female slaves, your hired workers, foreigners among you, 7your animals and the wild animals in your land. Everything the land produces will be yours to eat.
The Jubilee for the Land
8“Count seven of these years seven times for a total of 49 years. 9On the tenth day of the seventh month, the special day for the payment for sin, sound rams’ horns throughout the country. 10Set apart the fiftieth year as holy, and proclaim liberty to everyone living in the land. This is your jubilee year. Every slave will be freed in order to return to his property and to his family. 11That fiftieth year will be your jubilee year. Don’t plant or harvest what grows by itself or pick grapes from the vines in the land. 12The jubilee ⌞year⌟ will be holy to you. You will eat what the field itself produces.
13“In this jubilee year every slave will be freed in order to return to his property. 14If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, don’t take advantage of him. 15When you buy property from your neighbor, take into account the number of years since the jubilee. Your neighbor must sell it to you taking into account the number of crops ⌞until the next jubilee⌟. 16If there are still many years ⌞until the jubilee⌟, you will pay more for it. If there are only a few years ⌞until the jubilee⌟, you will pay less for it because he is selling you only the number of crops. 17Never take advantage of each other. Fear your God, because I am the Lord your God.
18“Obey my laws, and carefully follow my rules. Then you will live securely in the land. 19The land will give you its products, and you will eat all you want and live there securely. 20You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or bring in our crops?’ 21I will give you my blessing in the sixth year so that the land will produce enough for three years. 22You will plant ⌞again⌟ in the eighth year but live on what the land already produced. You will eat it, even in the ninth year, until the land produces more.
23“Land must never be sold permanently, because the land is mine. To me you are strangers without permanent homes. 24People must always have the right to buy their property back. 25If your brother becomes poor and sells some of his property, then the one who can assume responsibility, his nearest relative, must buy back what he sold. 26If a man doesn’t have anyone to buy it back for him, but if he prospers and earns enough to buy it back himself, 27he must count the years from its sale. Then he will pay what is left to the man to whom he sold it, and it will be his property again. 28However, if he cannot earn enough to buy it back, what he sold stays in the hands of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it will be released, and he will own it again.
29“If anyone sells a home in a walled city, for one year after selling it he has the right to buy it back. He may buy it back only within that time. 30If he does not buy it back during that year, the house in the city belongs to the buyer for generations to come. It will not be released in the jubilee. 31However, houses in villages without walls are regarded as belonging to the fields of the land. They can be bought back. They will be released in the jubilee.
32“The Levites always have the right to buy back their property in the cities they own. 33If any Levite buys back ⌞a house⌟, in the jubilee the purchased house in the city will be released, because the houses in the Levite cities are their property among the Israelites. 34But a field that belongs to their cities must not be sold, because it is their permanent property.
The Jubilee for the People
35“If an Israelite becomes poor and cannot support himself, help him. He must live with you as a stranger without a permanent home. 36Don’t collect interest or make any profit from him. Fear your God by respecting other Israelites’ lives. 37Never collect any kind of interest on your money or on the food you give them. 38I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you Canaan and to be your God.
39“If an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to you, don’t work him like a slave. 40He will be like a hired worker or a visitor to you. He may work with you until the year of jubilee. 41Then you will release him and his children to go back to their family and the property of their ancestors. 42They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. They must never be sold as slaves. 43Do not treat them harshly. Fear your God.
44“You may have male and female slaves, but buy them from the nations around you. 45You may also buy them from the foreigners living among you and from their families born in your country. They will be your property. 46You may acquire them for yourselves and for your descendants as permanent property. You may work them as slaves. However, do not treat the Israelites harshly. They are your relatives.
47“Someone who is a foreigner without a permanent home among you may become rich, and your relative living with him may be poor. The poor Israelite may sell himself to that foreigner or a member of his family. 48After he has sold himself, he has the right to be bought back. One of his brothers may buy him back. 49His uncle, his cousin, or some other relative could also buy him back. If he becomes rich, he could buy his own freedom. 50Then he and his buyer must take into account the number of years from the year he was bought until the year of jubilee. His sale price will be adjusted based on the number of years he was with his buyer, like the wages of a hired worker. 51If there are many years left, he must refund from his purchase price an amount equal ⌞to those years⌟. 52If there are only a few years left until the year of jubilee, he must take them into account. He must refund from his purchase price an amount equal to those years. 53During those years he should serve his buyer as a hired worker. His buyer should not treat him harshly. 54If he cannot buy his freedom in these ways, he and his children will be released in the year of jubilee.
55“The Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Currently Selected:
Leviticus 25: GW
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
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.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.