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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.

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Leviticus 25
New King James Version

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year(A)

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount (B)Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall (C)keep a sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4 but in the (D)seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn (E)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 (F)What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7 for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

8 ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; (G)on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and (H)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; (I)and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it (J)you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; (K)you shall eat its produce from the field.

13 (L)‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not (M)oppress one another. 15 (N)According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17 Therefore (O)you shall not [a]oppress one another, (P)but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

18 (Q)‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; (R)and you will dwell in the land in safety. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and (S)you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

20 ‘And if you say, (T)“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since (U)we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21 Then I will (V)command My blessing on you in the (W)sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22 (X)And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat (Y)old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Redemption of Property

23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for (Z)the land is Mine; for you are (AA)strangers and sojourners with Me. 24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

25 (AB)‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if (AC)his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27 then (AD)let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; (AE)and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

29 ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32 Nevertheless (AF)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But (AG)the field of the common-land of their cities may not be (AH)sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Lending to the Poor

35 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and [b]falls into poverty among you, then you shall (AI)help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 (AJ)Take no usury or interest from him; but (AK)fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38 (AL)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.

The Law Concerning Slavery

39 ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you—he and his children (AM)with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are (AN)My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 (AO)You shall not rule over him (AP)with [c]rigor, but you (AQ)shall fear your God. 44 And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover you may buy (AR)the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46 And (AS)you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

47 ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50 Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be (AT)according to the time of a hired servant for him. 51 If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. 52 And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. 53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:17 mistreat
  2. Leviticus 25:35 Lit. his hand fails
  3. Leviticus 25:43 severity
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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

  1. Leviticus 25:6 That is, the Sabbath produce of the land
  2. Leviticus 25:6 Or servants
  3. Leviticus 25:8 Or Sabbaths
  4. Leviticus 25:12 Or countryside
  5. Leviticus 25:42 Hebrew slaves
  6. Leviticus 25:55 Or slaves
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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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