Leviticus 25

The Year of Jubilee Leviticus 25:8–12

⁸Verse 8. “‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. ⁹Verse 9. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. ¹⁰Verse 10. You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

¹¹Verse 11. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines. ¹²Verse 12. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

Property Redemption Regulations Leviticus 25:13–17

¹³Verse 13. “‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property. ¹⁴Verse 14. “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. ¹⁵Verse 15. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶Verse 16. According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you. ¹⁷Verse 17. You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am Yahweh your God.

Safety and Provision Leviticus 25:18–22

¹⁸Verse 18. “‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹Verse 19. The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. ²⁰Verse 20. If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase”; ²¹Verse 21. then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years. ²²Verse 22. You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.

Land Ownership and Redemption Leviticus 25:23–34

²³Verse 23. “‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me. ²⁴Verse 24. In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land. ²⁵Verse 25. “‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold. ²⁶Verse 26. If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it; ²⁷Verse 27. then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

²⁸Verse 28. But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee: and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property. ²⁹Verse 29. “‘If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. ³⁰Verse 30. If it isn’t redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

³¹Verse 31. But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. ³²Verse 32. “‘Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³Verse 33. The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. ³⁴Verse 34. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

Support for the Poor Leviticus 25:35–43

³⁵Verse 35. “‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. ³⁶Verse 36. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you. ³⁷Verse 37. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. ³⁸Verse 38. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. ³⁹Verse 39. “‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

⁴⁰Verse 40. As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee: ⁴¹Verse 41. then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. ⁴²Verse 42. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³Verse 43. You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

Servitude and Redemption Leviticus 25:44–55

⁴⁴Verse 44. “‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵Verse 45. Moreover of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. ⁴⁶Verse 46. You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever; but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

⁴⁷Verse 47. “‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family; ⁴⁸Verse 48. after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹Verse 49. or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰Verse 50. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.

⁵¹Verse 51. If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. ⁵²Verse 52. If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption. ⁵³Verse 53. As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight. ⁵⁴Verse 54. If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him.

⁵⁵Verse 55. For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.