Leviticus 25
King James Version
25 And the Lord 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 the Lord.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee.
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
11 A jubile 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 vine undressed.
12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
16 According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God:for I am the Lord your God.
18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
19 And the land shall yield her 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 three years.
22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.
23 The land shall not be sold for ever: 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 waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;
27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.
28 But 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 year of jubile: and in the jubile 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; within a full year may he redeem it.
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 established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.
32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
33 And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubile: 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 waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
38 I am the Lord your God, which 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 that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile.
41 And then shall he depart from thee, both 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, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.
46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.
47 And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:
48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:
49 Either 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 able, he may redeem himself.
50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again 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 jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.
53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.
54 And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both 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 the Lord your God.
Leviticus 25
New American Standard Bible
The Sabbatical Year and Year of Jubilee
25 The Lord then spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am going to give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For (A)six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, 4 but during (B)the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap your harvest’s [a]aftergrowth, and you shall not gather your grapes of untrimmed vines; the land shall have a sabbatical year. 6 (C)All of you shall have the Sabbath produce of the land as food; for yourself, your male and female slaves, and your hired worker and your foreign resident, those who live as strangers among you. 7 Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.
8 ‘You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 You shall then sound a ram’s horn [b]abroad on (D)the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. 10 So you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and (E)proclaim [c]a release throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, [d]and (F)each of you shall return to his own property, [e]and each of you shall return to his family. 11 You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor harvest its aftergrowth, nor gather grapes from its untrimmed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce from the field.
13 ‘(G)On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. 14 Furthermore, if you make a sale to your friend, or buy from your friend’s hand, (H)you shall not [f]wrong one another. 15 Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your [g]friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. 16 (I)In proportion to [h]a greater number of years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to [i]fewer years you shall decrease its price, because it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. 17 So (J)you shall not [j]wrong one another, but you shall [k]fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
18 ‘You shall therefore [l]follow My statutes and keep My judgments so as to carry them out, so that (K)you may live securely on the land. 19 Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 20 But if you say, “(L)What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21 then (M)I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years. 22 When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat (N)old things from the produce, eating the old until the ninth year when its produce comes in.
The Law of Redemption
23 ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, because (O)the land is Mine; for (P)you are only strangers and residents with Me. 24 So for every [m]piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.
25 ‘(Q)If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor that he sells part of his property, then his closest [n]redeemer is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. 26 Or in case someone has no redeemer, but [o]recovers to find sufficient means for its redemption, 27 (R)then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. 28 But if [p]he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall [q]revert, so that (S)he may return to his property.
29 ‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year after its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. 30 But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not [r]revert in the jubilee. 31 The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be regarded [s]as open fields; they have redemption rights and [t]revert in the jubilee. 32 As for the (T)cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. 33 What, therefore, [u]belongs to the Levites may be redeemed, and a house sale [v]in the city of this possession [w]reverts in the jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. 34 (U)But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.
Of Poor Countrymen
35 ‘(V)Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his [x]means among you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a resident, so that he may live with you. 36 (W)Do not take [y]any kind of interest from him, but [z]fear your God, so that your countryman may live with you. 37 You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food [aa]for profit. 38 (X)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and (Y)to be your God.
39 ‘Now (Z)if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. 40 He shall be with you as a hired worker, (AA)as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee. 41 He shall then leave you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, so that he may return to the property of his forefathers. 42 For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 43 (AB)You shall not rule over him with [ab]severity, but are to revere your God. 44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. 45 You may also acquire them from the sons of the foreign residents who reside among you, and from their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. 46 You may also pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. (AC)But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with [ac]severity over one another.
Of Redeeming a Person Who Is Poor
47 ‘Now if the [ad]means of a stranger or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes poor in relation to him and sells himself to a stranger who is residing with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, 48 then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or [ae](AD)if he prospers, he may redeem himself. 50 He then, with his purchaser, shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years calculated. It is like the days of a hired worker that he will be with him. 51 If there are still many years remaining, (AE)he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; 52 but if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. 53 He shall be with him like a worker hired year by year; (AF)he shall not rule over him with [af]severity in your sight. 54 Even if he is not redeemed by [ag]these means, (AG)he shall still leave in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. 55 For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 25:5 Lit growth from spilled kernels
- Leviticus 25:9 Lit signal
- Leviticus 25:10 Or freedom
- Leviticus 25:10 Or when
- Leviticus 25:10 Or when
- Leviticus 25:14 Lit oppress
- Leviticus 25:15 Lit friend’s hands
- Leviticus 25:16 Lit the multitude of
- Leviticus 25:16 Lit the years being few
- Leviticus 25:17 Lit oppress
- Leviticus 25:17 Or revere
- Leviticus 25:18 Lit do My
- Leviticus 25:24 Lit land
- Leviticus 25:25 I.e., male relative to act in his behalf
- Leviticus 25:26 Lit his hand reaches
- Leviticus 25:28 Lit his hand has not found sufficient to
- Leviticus 25:28 Lit go out
- Leviticus 25:30 Lit go out
- Leviticus 25:31 Lit according to
- Leviticus 25:31 Lit go out
- Leviticus 25:33 Lit is from
- Leviticus 25:33 Lit and
- Leviticus 25:33 Lit goes out
- Leviticus 25:35 Lit hand
- Leviticus 25:36 Prob. interest on money and food loans
- Leviticus 25:36 Or revere
- Leviticus 25:37 Lit at interest
- Leviticus 25:43 Or violence
- Leviticus 25:46 Or violence
- Leviticus 25:47 Lit hand...reaches
- Leviticus 25:49 Lit his hand has reached and he
- Leviticus 25:53 Or violence
- Leviticus 25:54 Or these years
Leviticus 25
English Standard Version
The Sabbath Year
25 (A)The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into (B)the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 (C)You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land[a] shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves[b] and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: (D)all its yield shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “You shall count seven weeks[c] of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound (E)the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. (F)On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and (G)proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of (H)you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it (I)you shall neither sow nor reap (J)what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. (K)You may eat the produce of the field.[d]
13 (L)“In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14 And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, (M)you shall not wrong one another. 15 (N)You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16 If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17 (O)You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.
18 (P)“Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then (Q)you will dwell in the land securely. 19 (R)The land will yield its fruit, and (S)you will eat your fill (T)and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, (U)‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if (V)we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will (W)command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 (X)When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of (Y)the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
Redemption of Property
23 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for (Z)the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
25 “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, (AA)then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, 27 let (AB)him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. 28 But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall (AC)be released, and (AD)he shall return to his property.
29 “If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. 30 If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations; (AE)it shall not be released in the jubilee. 31 But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and (AF)they shall be released in the jubilee. 32 As for (AG)the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess. 33 And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. 34 But the fields (AH)of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.
Kindness for Poor Brothers
35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, (AI)you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 (AJ)Take no interest from him or profit, but (AK)fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 (AL)You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 (AM)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39 (AN)“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 (AO)Then he shall go out from you, (AP)he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return (AQ)to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are (AR)my servants,[e] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 (AS)You shall not rule over him (AT)ruthlessly but (AU)shall fear your God. 44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45 (AV)You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel (AW)you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.
Redeeming a Poor Man
47 “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and (AX)your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin may (AY)redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he (AZ)grows rich he may redeem himself. 50 He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be (BA)rated as the time of a hired worker. 51 If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. 52 If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. 53 He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. (BB)He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then (BC)he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. 55 For it is (BD)to me that the people of Israel are servants.[f] They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 25:6 That is, the Sabbath produce of the land
- Leviticus 25:6 Or servants
- Leviticus 25:8 Or Sabbaths
- Leviticus 25:12 Or countryside
- Leviticus 25:42 Hebrew slaves
- Leviticus 25:55 Or slaves
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
