Leviticus 25:24-52

Evangelical Heritage Version

²⁴ Therefore, throughout all the land that you possess, you shall grant the right of redemption for the land. ²⁵ When your brother Israelite becomes so impoverished that he has to sell some of the land that he holds, his closest relative shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. ²⁶ When the man who has no close relative prospers and acquires enough for the price to redeem his land, ²⁷ he may calculate the years since he sold it, refund the difference to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his family property. ²⁸ But if he does not acquire a sufficient amount to recover the land for himself, what he has sold shall remain under the control of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. It shall become free in the Jubilee, so that the seller may return to his family property.

²⁹ When a man sells a house where he lives in a walled town, his right of redemption shall last until a full year after its sale. The time to redeem it lasts for a year. ³⁰ But if it is not redeemed before the completion of a full year, the house which is in a town which has a wall will belong to its buyer and his descendants. It cannot be reclaimed. It will not be released in the Jubilee. ³¹ But the houses in the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified as part of the farmland. They have the right of redemption and shall become free in the Jubilee.

³² All the towns of the Levites and the houses in the towns which are their property have a permanent right of redemption. ³³ Whatever a Levite is permitted to redeem (such as a house which he sold that had been his property in a city) will become free in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.^{[a] 34} But the pastures and fields around the Levites’ towns may not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.

³⁵ When your fellow Israelite^[b] becomes so impoverished that he cannot support himself,^[c] help him as you would help a resident alien or a temporary resident. Let him retain his right to work for a livelihood among you.^{[d] 36} You shall not take advance interest or accrued interest from him, but you shall fear your God and let your brother retain his livelihood with you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money for advance interest or your food for accrued interest. ³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who freed you from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹ When your fellow Israelite becomes so indebted to you that he is sold to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. ⁴⁰ He shall remain with you as a hired laborer or a temporary resident. He shall work for you until the year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he and his children with him will become free from your authority. He shall return to his family home and to his ancestral landholding, ⁴² for the Israelites are my servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold in a slave sale. ⁴³ You shall not rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

⁴⁴ You may buy a male slave or a female slave for yourself from the nations around you. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the children of those who reside as aliens among you and some of their extended families who are born in your land, so that they become your property. ⁴⁶ You may leave them to your children as inherited property. You may make them work as slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, each of you must not rule over your brother harshly.

⁴⁷ If a resident alien living among you prospers, and if your brother Israelite becomes so indebted to him that he is sold to that alien living among you or to that alien’s family, ⁴⁸ the Israelite who has been sold shall have the right to be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, ⁴⁹ or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or anyone from his immediate family^[e] or extended family may redeem him, or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ Together with his buyer, he shall calculate the elapsed time from the year that he was sold until the year of Jubilee, and the price to redeem him shall be based on that number of years. It shall be calculated as if he were a hired laborer. ⁵¹ If there are still many years left, he shall pay the price of redemption proportionally to the years that have passed. ⁵² If only a few years remain until the year of Jubilee, he shall calculate the redemption in this way: He shall pay the price of his redemption on the basis of his years of work,