Leviticus 25
Expanded Bible
The Time of Rest for the Land
25 The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Tell the people of Israel this: ‘When you enter the land I will give you, let it have a ·special time of rest, to honor [L sabbath to/for] the Lord. 3 You may plant seed in your field for six years, and you may trim your vineyards for six years and bring in their fruits. 4 But during the seventh year, you must let the land ·rest [have a sabbath]. This will be a ·special time to honor [L sabbath to/for] the Lord. You must not plant seed in your field or ·trim [prune] your vineyards. 5 You must not cut the crops that grow by themselves after harvest, or gather the grapes from your vines that are not ·trimmed [pruned]. The land will have a ·year of rest [sabbath].
6 “‘You may eat whatever the land produces during that ·year of rest [sabbath]. It will be food for your men and women servants, for your hired workers, and for the ·foreigners living in your country [sojourners; wanderers; resident aliens]. 7 It will also be food for your cattle and the wild animals of your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “‘Count off seven groups of seven years, [L seven times seven years] or forty-nine years. During that time there will be seven ·years of rest [sabbatical years; 25:1–7] for the land. 9 On the Day of ·Cleansing [Atonement; 16:1–34], you must blow the horn of a ·male sheep [ram]; this will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. You must blow the horn through the whole country. 10 Make the fiftieth year a ·special [consecrated; holy] year, and announce ·freedom [liberty] for all the people living in your country. This time will be called Jubilee [C a word related to the Hebrew for “ram’s horn”]. You will each go back to your own property, each to your own family and family group. 11 The fiftieth year will be a special time for you to celebrate. Don’t plant seeds, or harvest the crops that grow by themselves, or gather grapes from the vines that are not ·trimmed [pruned]. 12 That year is Jubilee; it will be a holy time for you. You may eat only the crops that come from the field. 13 In the year of Jubilee you each must go back to your own property.
14 “‘If you sell your land to your ·neighbor [countryman], or if you buy land from your ·neighbor [countryman], don’t ·cheat [mistreat; exploit] each other. 15 If you want to buy your ·neighbor’s [countryman’s] land, count the number of years since the last Jubilee, and use that number to decide the right price. If your ·neighbor [countryman] sells the land to you, count the number of years left for harvesting crops, and use that number to decide the right price. 16 If there are many years, the price will be high. But if there are only a few years, lower the price, because your neighbor is really selling only a few crops to you. 17 You must not ·cheat [mistreat; exploit] ·each other [L your neighbor/countryman], but you must ·respect [fear] your God. I am the Lord your God.
18 “‘·Remember [L Observe] my ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and ·rules [regulations], and ·obey [keep; guard] them so that you will live ·safely [securely] in the land. 19 The land will give ·good crops [its fruit] to you, and you will eat as much as you want and live ·safely [securely] in the land.
20 “‘But you might ask, “If we don’t plant seeds or gather crops, what will we eat the seventh year?” 21 I will ·send [L command for] you such a great blessing during the sixth year that the land will produce enough crops for three years. 22 When you plant in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the old crop; you will eat the old crop until the harvest of the ninth year.
Property Laws
23 “‘The land really belongs to me, so you can’t sell it ·for all time [in perpetuity]. You are only ·foreigners [sojourners; wanderers; resident aliens] and ·travelers living for a while on my land [L tenants with me]. 24 ·People might sell their land, but it must always be possible for the family to get its land back [L Throughout all the land of your possession, you must allow for redemption of the land]. 25 If ·a person in your country [your brother/kinsman] becomes very poor and sells some land, then close relatives ·must [or can] come and ·buy it back [redeem what his brother/kinsman has sold]. 26 If there is not a ·close relative to buy the land back [redeemer], but if the person ·makes enough money to be able to buy it back [prospers and he is able to redeem it], 27 the years must be ·counted [calculated] since the land was sold. That number must be used to decide how much the first owner should pay back the one who bought it. Then the land will belong to the first owner again. 28 But if there is not enough money to buy it back, the one who bought it will keep it until the year of Jubilee. During that celebration, the land will go back to the first owner’s family.
29 “‘If someone sells a home in a walled city, for a full year after it is sold, the person has the right to ·buy it back [redeem it]. 30 But if the owner does not ·buy back the house [redeem it] before a full year is over, it will belong to the one who bought it ·and to his future sons [L in perpetuity, throughout his generations]. The house will not go back to the first owner at Jubilee. 31 But houses in ·small towns [villages] without walls are like open ·country [fields]; they can be ·bought back [redeemed], and they must be returned to their first owner at Jubilee.
32 “‘The Levites may always ·buy back [redeem] their houses in the cities that belong to them. 33 If someone buys a house from a Levite, that house in the Levites’ city will again belong to the Levites in the Jubilee. This is because houses in Levite cities belong to the people of Levi; ·the Israelites gave these cities to them [L for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the sons/T children of Israel; Num. 35:1–8; Josh. 21:1–45]. 34 Also the ·fields and pastures [L open land] around the Levites’ cities cannot be sold, because ·those fields belong to the Levites [L that is their possession] forever.
Rules for Slave Owners
35 “‘If ·anyone from your country [your brother/kinsman] becomes too poor ·to support himself [or and dependent on you], ·help [support] him to live among you as you would a ·stranger [sojourner/wanderer/resident alien] or ·foreigner [or tenant]. 36 Do not charge him any interest on money ·you loan to him [L or try to make a profit; Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19–20], but ·respect [fear] your God; let ·the poor [L your brother/kinsman] live among you. 37 Don’t lend him money for interest, and don’t try to make a profit from the food he buys. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give the land of Canaan to you and to become your God.
39 “‘If ·anyone from your country [your brother/kinsman] becomes very poor and sells himself as a slave to you, you must not make him work like a slave [Ex. 21:2–6; Deut. 15:12–18]. 40 He will be like a hired worker and a ·visitor [or tenant] with you until the year of Jubilee. 41 Then he may leave you, take his children, and go back to his family and the land of his ancestors. 42 This is because the Israelites are my servants, and I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They must not become slaves again. 43 You must not ·rule this person [exercise dominion; Gen. 1:26] cruelly, but you must ·respect [fear] your God.
44 “‘Your men and women slaves must come from other nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 Also you may buy as slaves children from the families of ·strangers [sojourners/wanderers/resident aliens] or ·foreigners [or tenants] living in your land. ·These child slaves will belong to you [L Those born in your land will be your property], 46 and you may even ·pass them on to your children after you die [will them to your children]; you can make them slaves forever. But you must not ·rule [exercise dominion] cruelly over your own ·people [brothers; kinsmen], the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel].
47 “‘Suppose a ·stranger [sojourner/wanderer/resident alien] or ·foreigner [or tenant] among you becomes rich. If ·someone in your country [a brother/kinsman] becomes so poor that he has to sell himself as a slave to the ·foreigner [sojourner; wanderer; resident alien] living among you or to a member of the ·foreigner’s [sojourner’s; wanderer’s; resident alien’s] family, 48 ·the poor person has the right to be bought back and become free [L after he is sold he has the right of redemption]. One of his relatives may ·buy him back [redeem him]: 49 His uncle, his uncle’s son, or any one of his close relatives may ·buy him back [redeem him]. Or, if he gets enough money, he may pay the money to ·free [redeem] himself.
50 “‘He and the one who bought him must ·count [calculate] the time from when he sold himself up to the next year of Jubilee. Use that number to decide the price, because the person really only hired himself out for a certain number of years. 51 If there are still many years before the year of Jubilee, the person must ·pay back [redeem] a large part of the price. 52 If there are only a few years left until Jubilee, the person must pay a small part of the first price. 53 But he will live like a hired person with ·the foreigner [L him] every year; don’t let the ·foreigner [L him] ·rule [exercise dominion] cruelly over him.
54 “‘Even if no one ·buys him back [redeems him], at the year of Jubilee, he and his children will ·become free [L go out]. 55 This is because the ·people [L sons; children] of Israel are servants to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 25
Amplified Bible
The Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee
25 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am giving you, then 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 crop. 4 But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow [seed in] your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 Whatever reseeds itself (uncultivated) in your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you gather the grapes from your uncultivated vine, it shall be a year of sabbatical rest for the land. 6 And all of you shall have for food whatever the [untilled] land produces during its Sabbath year; yourself, and your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the foreigners who reside among you, 7 even your domestic animals and the [wild] animals that are in your land shall have all its crops 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 Then you shall sound the ram’s horn everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month (almost October); on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and [a]proclaim freedom [for the slaves] throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee (year of remission) for you, and each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property [that was sold to another because of poverty], and each of you shall return to his family [from whom he was separated by bondage]. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you; you shall not sow [seed], nor reap what reseeds itself, nor gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its crops out of the field.
13 ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property. 14 If you sell anything to your friend or buy from your friend, you shall not wrong one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall [b]buy from your friend. And he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops [which may be harvested before you must restore the property to him]. 16 If the years [until the next Jubilee] are many, you shall increase the price, but if the years remaining are few, you shall reduce the price, because it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; for I am the Lord your God.
18 ‘Therefore you shall carry out My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them, so that 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 And if you say, “What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow [seed] or gather in our crops?” 21 then [this is My answer:] I will order My [special] blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce [sufficient] crops for three years. 22 When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crops, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.
The Law of Redemption
23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; you are [only] foreigners and temporary residents with Me.(A) 24 So in all the country that you possess, you are to provide for the redemption of the land [in the Year of Jubilee].
25 ‘If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell some of his property, then his nearest relative is to come and buy back (redeem) what his relative has sold. 26 Or in case a man has no relative [to redeem his property], but he has become more prosperous and has enough to buy it back, 27 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 [ancestral] property.(B) 28 But if [c]he is unable to redeem it, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of the purchaser until the Year of Jubilee; but at the Jubilee it shall revert, and he may return to his property.
29 ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then his right of redemption remains valid for a full year after its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. 30 But if it is not redeemed for him within a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently and irrevocably to the purchaser throughout his generations. It does not revert back in the Year of Jubilee. 31 The houses of the villages that have no surrounding walls, however, shall be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and revert in the Year of Jubilee. 32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses in the cities which they possess. 33 Therefore, what is [purchased] from the Levites may be redeemed [by a Levite], and the house that was sold in the city they possess reverts in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their [ancestral] property among the Israelites. 34 But the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.
Of Poor Countrymen
35 ‘Now if your fellow countryman becomes poor and his hand falters with you [that is, he has trouble repaying you for something], then you are to help and sustain him, [with courtesy and consideration] like [you would] a stranger or a temporary resident [without property], so that he may live among you.(C) 36 Do not charge him usurious interest, but fear your God [with profound reverence], so your countryman may [continue to] live among you. 37 You shall not give him your money at interest, nor your food at a profit. 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.
39 ‘And if your fellow countryman becomes so poor [in his dealings] with you that he sells himself to you [as payment for a debt], you shall not let him do the work of a slave [who is ineligible for redemption], 40 but he is to be with you as a hired man, as if he were a temporary resident; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee, 41 and then he shall leave you, he and his children with him, and shall go back to his own family and return to the property of his fathers. 42 For the Israelites are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in a slave sale.(D) 43 You shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression), but you are to fear your God [with profound reverence].(E) 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 Moreover, from the children of the strangers who live as aliens among you, from them you may buy slaves and from their families who are with you, whom they have produced in your land; they may become your possession. 46 You may even bequeath them as an inheritance to your children after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your fellow countrymen, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with harshness (severity, oppression).
Of Redeeming a Poor Man
47 ‘Now if the financial means of a stranger or temporary resident among you become sufficient, and your fellow countryman becomes poor in comparison to him and sells himself to the stranger who is living among you or to the descendants of the stranger’s family, 48 then after he is sold he shall have the right of redemption. One of his relatives may redeem him: 49 either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. 50 Then he [or his redeemer] shall calculate with his purchaser from the year when he sold himself to the purchaser to the Year of Jubilee, and the [original] price of his sale shall be adjusted according to the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be considered as that of a hired man. 51 If there are still many years [before the Year of Jubilee], in proportion to them he must refund [to the purchaser] part of the price of his sale for his redemption and release. 52 And if only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he shall so calculate it with him. He is to refund the proportionate amount for his release. 53 Like a man hired year by year he shall deal with him; he shall not rule over him with harshness in your sight. 54 Even if he is not redeemed during these years and under these provisions, then he shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are My servants; My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 25:10 The quote on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is from this verse and reads, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
- Leviticus 25:15 The transfer of land in Israel was more like a lease than an outright purchase. Since all property reverted to the original owner at the Jubilee year, the purchaser would pay a price only for the years of use remaining until the next Jubilee.
- Leviticus 25:28 Lit his hand has not found enough.
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