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Leviticus 25
New Life Version

The Seventh Year—a Year of Rest for the Lord

25 The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When you come to the land I will give you, then the land will have a Year of Rest to the Lord. 3 Six years you will plant seeds in your field. Six years you will take care of your vines and gather their fruit. 4 But the seventh year will be a Year of Rest for the land, a Year of Rest to the Lord. You will not plant seeds in your field or take care of your vines. 5 You will not gather what grows of itself in your field. And do not gather the fruit of the vines that have not been cared for. The land will have a Year of Rest. 6 During the Year of Rest the land will give food for you, for your men and women servants, the man you pay to work for you, and the stranger who lives with you. 7 Even your cattle and the animals in your land will have food to eat.

The Fiftieth Year

8 ‘You are to number seven Years of Rest for yourself, seven times seven years. The time of the seven Years of Rest will be forty-nine years. 9 Then let the horn be heard on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day to be made free from sin you will let a horn be heard all through your land. 10 You will honor the fiftieth year as holy. And let it be known in all the land that all who are living there are free. It will be a happy time for you. Each of you will return to what is his. Each will return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a happy time for you. You will not plant seeds in the field, or gather the food that grows of itself, or gather fruit from the vines that are not cared for. 12 This is a happy time. It will be holy to you. You will eat from what the field gives.

13 ‘In this Year of Jubilee each one will have what was his. 14 If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, do not do wrong to one another. 15 You will pay your neighbor by the number of years since the Year of Jubilee. And he will sell to you by the number of years the food may be gathered. 16 You will make the price more if there are many years, and make the price less if there are few years. For he is selling you the food that is gathered each year. 17 Do not do wrong to one another, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

The Seventh Year

18 ‘So keep My Laws and do what I say, and you will be safe living in the land. 19 Then the land will give its food, so you can eat all you want and be safe living there. 20 If you say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant seeds or gather in the food of our field?” 21 I will let My good come upon you in the sixth year, so it will give you enough food for three years. 22 When you are planting seeds in the eighth year, you can still eat from the old store of food. You can eat the old food until the food of the ninth year is gathered.

23 ‘The land will not be sold to be kept forever. For the land is Mine. You are only strangers staying with Me. 24 For all the land you have, you must be willing to let it go. 25 When your brother becomes poor and sells some of his land, then one in his family who is near to him is to come and buy what his brother has sold. 26 But a man may have no one to buy his land, and he himself may become able to buy it again. 27 Then he should add up the years since he sold it, and pay what is left of the price to the man to whom he sold it. So he will return to his own land. 28 But if he is not able to buy it again for himself, then what he has sold will belong to the one who bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Year of Jubilee it will be let go and he may return to it.

29 ‘If a man sells a house within the walls of a city, he has the right to buy it back for a whole year from the time he sold it. He can buy it during that year. 30 But if it is not bought back again for him within a whole year, then the house within the city walls belongs forever to the family of the one who bought it. It will not be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee. 31 But houses in towns that have no walls will be thought of as open fields. They may be let go, and will be returned in the Year of Jubilee. 32 The houses in the cities of the Levites may be returned to the Levites at any time. 33 If a house is not bought again by a Levite, then the house that was sold in one of their cities will be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee. For the houses of the Levites belong to them among the people of Israel. 34 But the open field of their cities must not be sold. It belongs to them forever.

The Poor Paying Money Back

35 ‘If your brother becomes poor and is not able to pay you what he owes, then you should help him as you would help a stranger or visitor. So he may live with you. 36 Do not make him pay for the use of the money he owes you. But fear your God, so your brother may live with you. 37 Do not make him pay for the use of your money or your food. 38 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.

About Servants and Workmen

39 ‘If your brother becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, do not make him work as a servant. 40 He will be as a man who is paid to work for you, as one who is traveling from place to place, until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he will leave you, he and his children, that he may return to the land of his fathers. 42 For I brought them out of the land of Egypt as My servants. They are not to be sold as a servant. 43 Do not make it hard for him, but fear your God. 44 Those men and women you may have who are sold as servants will be from the nations around you. 45 You may buy from among the children of the strangers who live among you, and from their families that are with you and were born in your land. You may own them. 46 You may give them to your children after you, to receive as their own. You can have them as servants forever. But do not make it hard for your brothers, the people of Israel.

47 ‘Now a stranger or one visiting you may become rich. And your brother may become so poor that he sells himself to a stranger living among you, or to the children of a stranger’s family. 48 Then he may be made free after he has been sold. One of his brothers may pay the price to free him. 49 His father’s brother, the son of his father’s brother, or one of his own family may pay the price to free him. Or if he becomes rich he may pay the price himself. 50 With the one who bought him he will add the years from the year he sold himself until the Year of Jubilee. The price for him to be set free will be decided upon by the number of years. The time he was with the man who owned him will be as that of a man paid to work for him. 51 If there are still many years, he will return a part of the price which was given for him. 52 If there is only a few years until the Year of Jubilee, he will decide upon the amount of money with his owner. He should pay the price to be set free, decided upon by the number of years. 53 He will be like a man paid to work for him year by year. Make sure his owner does not make it hard for him. 54 Even if the price is not paid for him in this way, he will go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children. 55 Because the people of Israel are My servants. They are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Close LSB

Leviticus 25
Legacy Standard Bible

The Sabbatical Year

25 Yahweh then spoke to Moses [a]at Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am giving to you, then the land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh. 3 (A)Six years you shall sow your field, and 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 Yahweh; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 [b]What grows of its own accord from your harvest you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. 6 (C)And the sabbath produce of the land shall be for food; for you and your male and female slaves and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who sojourn with you. 7 Even your cattle and the beasts that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.

The Year of Jubilee

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, namely, forty-nine years. 9 You shall then sound a ram’s horn 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 You shall thus set apart as holy the fiftieth year and (E)proclaim [c]a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, [d]and (F)each of you shall return to his own possession of land, [e]and each of you shall return to his family. 11 You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow; you shall not reap what grows of its own accord; you shall not gather in from its untrimmed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce out of the field.

13 ‘(G)On this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his own possession of land. 14 If you make a sale, moreover, to your companion or buy from your friend’s hand, (H)you shall not mistreat one another. 15 Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your [f]companion; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of produce. 16 (I)In proportion to the [g]extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is the number of crops it produces that he is selling to you. 17 So (J)you shall not mistreat one another, but you shall [h]fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.

18 ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to do them, that (K)you may live securely on the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 20 But if you say, “(L)What are we going to eat on the seventh year [i]if we do not sow or gather in our produce?” 21 then (M)I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years. 22 So you shall sow the eighth year and eat (N)old things from that produce, eating the old until the ninth year when its produce comes in.

The Redemption of Land

23 ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for (O)the land is Mine; for (P)you are but sojourners and foreign residents with Me. 24 Thus for every [j]piece of land of your possession, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.

25 ‘(Q)If a brother of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his possession of land, then his nearest kinsman redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 Or in case a man has no kinsman redeemer, but [k]recovers his means and finds sufficient payment for its redemption, 27 (R)then he shall calculate the years since its sale and return the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his possession of land. 28 But if [l]he has not found sufficient means to return it to 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 [m]revert, that (S)he may return to his possession of land.

29 ‘Likewise, if a man sells a house for habitation in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. 30 But if it is not redeemed 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 [n]revert in the jubilee. 31 The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be considered [o]as open fields; they have redemption rights and [p]revert in the jubilee. 32 As for (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, [q]belongs to the Levites may be redeemed, and a house sale [r]in the city of [s]their possession [t]reverts in the jubilee, for 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 perpetual possession.

Redemption Rights for Poor Brothers

35 ‘(V)Now if a brother of yours becomes poor and his [u]means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a sojourner or a foreign resident, that he may live with you. 36 (W)Do not take [v]usurious interest from him, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not give him your silver at interest nor your food for gain. 38 (X)I am Yahweh 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 ‘(Z)If a brother 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 man, as (AA)if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. 41 He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his family, that he may return to the possession of the land of his fathers. 42 For they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in a slave sale. 43 (AB)You shall not have dominion over him with brutality, but you shall fear your God. 44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the nations that are around you. 45 And also you may acquire from the sons of the foreign residents who sojourn among you, from them and their families who are with you; as for those whom they have begotten in your land, they also may become your possession. 46 You may even give them 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 brothers, the sons of Israel, you shall not have dominion over one another with brutality.

Redemption from a Sojourner

47 ‘Now if the [w]means of a sojourner or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a brother of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a sojourner who resides with you or to the descendants of a sojourner’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 [x](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. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. 51 If there are still many years, (AE)he shall return part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; 52 and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he shall return the amount for his redemption. 53 Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; (AF)he shall not have dominion over him with brutality in your sight. 54 Even if he is not redeemed by [y]these means, (AG)he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. 55 For the sons of Israel are My slaves; they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:1 Or on
  2. Leviticus 25:5 Lit The growth from spilled kernels
  3. Leviticus 25:10 Or liberty
  4. Leviticus 25:10 Or when
  5. Leviticus 25:10 Or when
  6. Leviticus 25:15 Lit companion’s hands
  7. Leviticus 25:16 Lit multitude
  8. Leviticus 25:17 Or reverence
  9. Leviticus 25:20 Or behold
  10. Leviticus 25:24 Lit land
  11. Leviticus 25:26 Lit his hand reaches
  12. Leviticus 25:28 Lit his hand has not found sufficient to
  13. Leviticus 25:28 Lit go out
  14. Leviticus 25:30 Lit go out
  15. Leviticus 25:31 Lit according to
  16. Leviticus 25:31 Lit go out
  17. Leviticus 25:33 Lit is from
  18. Leviticus 25:33 Lit and
  19. Leviticus 25:33 Lit his
  20. Leviticus 25:33 Lit goes out
  21. Leviticus 25:35 Lit hand
  22. Leviticus 25:36 Lit interest and usury
  23. Leviticus 25:47 Lit hand...reaches
  24. Leviticus 25:49 Lit if his hand has reached and
  25. Leviticus 25:54 Or these years
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