Leviticus 25

1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.5 That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.6 And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger, who sojourn with thee.7 And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.

8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years.9 Then shalt thou send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.11 A jubilee 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 the undressed vines.12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

13 In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor’s hand, ye shall not wrong one another.15 According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee.16 According to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for the number of the crops doth he sell unto thee.17 And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am Jehovah your God.

18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.19 And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;21 then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old store.

23 And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.25 If thy brother be waxed poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold.26 And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it;27 then let him reckon the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return unto his possession.28 But if he be not able to get it back for himself, then that which he hath sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

29 And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption.30 And if it be not 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 that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.33 And if one of the Levites redeem, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee.36 Take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.38 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

39 And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant.40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee:41 then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.42 For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God.44 And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land: and they shall be your possession.46 And ye shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.

47 And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxed rich, and thy brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family;48 after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him;49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxed rich, he may redeem himself.50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.51 If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption.53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.54 And if he be not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him.55 For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.

Leviticus 25

Regulations for the Sabbatical Year

1 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbatht to the Lord.3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce,t4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete restt – a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field ort prune your vineyard.5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unprunedt vines; the land must have a year of complete rest.6 You may have the Sabbath producet of the land to eat – you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,t

7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land – all its produce will be for yout to eat.

Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

8 “‘You must count offt seven weeks of years, seven times seven years,t and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years.t9 You must sound loud horn blastss – in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement – you must sound the horn in your entire land.10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year,t and you must proclaim a releaset in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee;t each one of you must returnt to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines.ts

12 Because that year is a jubilee, it will be holy to you – you may eat its producet from the field.

Release of Landed Property

13 “‘In this year of jubilee you must each returnt to your property.14 If you make a salet to your fellow citizent or buyt from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother.t15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years sincet the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left.ts16 The more years there are,t the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are,t the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years oft produce.17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen,t but you must fear your God, because I am the Lord your God.

18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep themt so that you may live securely in the land.t
19 “‘The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied,t and you may live securely in the land.20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yieldt the producet for three years,22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s producet – old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce,t you may eat old produce.23 The land must not be sold without reclaimt because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me.t

24 In all your landed propertyt you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.t
25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.t26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prosperst and gains enough for its redemption,t27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold,t refund the balancet to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property.

28 If he has not prospered enough to refundt a balance to him, then what he soldt will belong tot the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revertt in the jubilee and the original ownert may return to his property.

Release of Houses

29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city,t its right of redemption must extendt until one full year from its sale;t its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year.t30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended,t the house in the walled cityt will belong without reclaimt to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee.31 The houses of villages, however,t which have no wall surrounding themt must be considered as the fieldt of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee.32 As fort the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess,t the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption.33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee,t because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

34 Moreover,t the open field areas of their citiess must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

Debt and Slave Regulations

35 “‘If your brothert becomes impoverished and is indebted to you,t you must supportt him; he must livet with you like a foreign resident.t36 Do not take interest or profit from him,t but you must fear your God and your brother must livet with you.37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.t

38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God.t
39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service.t40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner;t he must serve with you until the year of jubilee,41 but thent he may go free,t he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.t42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.t

43 You must not rule over him harshly,t but you must fear your God.
44 “‘As for your male and female slavest who may belong to you – you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.t45 Also you may buy slavest from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that aret with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.

46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.t
47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prosperst and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so thatt he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a membert of a foreigner’s family,48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption.t One of his brothers may redeem him,49 or his uncle or his cousint may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his familyt – may redeem him, or ifs he prospers he may redeem himself.50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of yearst from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him.t51 If there are still many years, in keeping with themt he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption,52 but if only a few years remaint until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption.53 He must be with the one who bought himt like a yearly hired worker.t The one who bought himt must not rule over him harshly in your sight.54 If, however,t he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go freet in the jubilee year, he and his children with him,

55 because the Israelites are my own servants;t they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.