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. ³Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴but 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. ⁶And 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, ⁷for 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. ⁹Then 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. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹That 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. ¹²For 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁶According 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. ¹⁷Therefore ^(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. ¹⁹Then 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?” ²¹Then 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. ²⁴And 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. ²⁶Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, ²⁷then ^(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. ²⁸But 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. ³⁰But 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. ³¹However 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. ³²Nevertheless ^(AF)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³And 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. ³⁴But ^(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. ³⁷You 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. ⁴⁰As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹And 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. ⁴²For 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. ⁴⁴And 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. ⁴⁵Moreover 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. ⁴⁶And ^(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, ⁴⁸after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹or 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. ⁵⁰Thus 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. ⁵¹If 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. ⁵²And 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. ⁵³He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. ⁵⁴And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. ⁵⁵For 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

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

Leviticus 25

Complete Jewish Bible

Parashah 32: B’har (On Mount) 25:1–26:2

[In regular years read with Parashah 33, in leap years read separately]

25 Adonai spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said, ²“Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for Adonai. ³Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce. ⁴But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines. ⁵You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land. ⁶But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you — you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you, ⁷your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.

⁸“‘You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. ⁹Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; ¹⁰and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. ¹¹That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; ¹²because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. ¹³In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.

(LY: ii) ¹⁴“‘If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other. ¹⁵Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised. ¹⁶If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced. ¹⁷Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am Adonai your God.

¹⁸“‘Rather, you are to keep my regulations and rulings and act accordingly. If you do, you will live securely in the land. (RY: ii, LY: iii) ¹⁹The land will yield its produce, you will eat until you have enough, and you will live there securely.

²⁰“‘If you ask, “If we aren’t allowed to sow seed or harvest what our land produces, what are we going to eat the seventh year?” ²¹then I will order my blessing on you during the sixth year, so that the land brings forth enough produce for all three years. ²²The eighth year you will sow seed but eat the the old, stored produce until the ninth year; that is, until the produce of the eighth year comes in, you will eat the old, stored food.

²³“‘The land is not to be sold in perpetuity, because the land belongs to me — you are only foreigners and temporary residents with me. ²⁴Therefore, when you sell your property, you must include the right of redemption. (LY: iv) ²⁵That is, if one of you becomes poor and sells some of his property, his next-of-kin can come and buy back what his relative sold. ²⁶If the seller has no one to redeem it but becomes rich enough to redeem it himself, ²⁷he will calculate the number of years the land was sold for, refund the excess to its buyer, and return to his property. ²⁸If he hasn’t sufficient means to get it back himself, then what he sold will remain in the hands of the buyer until the year of yovel; in the yovel the buyer will vacate it and the seller return to his property.

(RY: iii, LY: v) ²⁹“‘If someone sells a dwelling in a walled city, he has one year after the date of sale in which to redeem it. For a full year he will have the right of redemption; ³⁰but if he has not redeemed the dwelling in the walled city within the year, then title in perpetuity passes to the buyer through all his generations; it will not revert in the yovel. ³¹However, houses in villages not surrounded by walls are to be dealt with like the fields in the countryside — they may be redeemed [before the yovel], and they revert in the yovel.

³²“‘Concerning the cities of the L’vi’im and the houses in the cities they possess, the L’vi’im are to have a permanent right of redemption. ³³If someone purchases a house from one of the L’vi’im, then the house he sold in the city where he owns property will still revert to him in the yovel; because the houses in the cities of the L’vi’im are their tribe’s possession among the people of Isra’el. ³⁴The fields in the open land around their cities may not be sold, because that is their permanent possession.

³⁵“‘If a member of your people has become poor, so that he can’t support himself among you, you are to assist him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue living with you. ³⁶Do not charge him interest or otherwise profit from him, but fear your God, so that your brother can continue living with you. ³⁷Do not take interest when you loan him money or take a profit when you sell him food. ³⁸I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to give you the land of Kena‘an and be your God.

(RY: iv, LY: vi) ³⁹“‘If a member of your people has become poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him do the work of a slave. ⁴⁰Rather, you are to treat him like an employee or a tenant; he will work for you until the year of yovel. ⁴¹Then he will leave you, he and his children with him, and return to his own family and regain possession of his ancestral land. ⁴²For they are my slaves, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; therefore they are not to be sold as slaves. ⁴³Do not treat him harshly, but fear your God.

⁴⁴“‘Concerning the men and women you may have as slaves: you are to buy men- and women-slaves from the nations surrounding you. ⁴⁵You may also buy the children of foreigners living with you and members of their families born in your land; you may own these. ⁴⁶You may also bequeath them to your children to own; from these groups you may take your slaves forever. But as far as your brothers the people of Isra’el are concerned, you are not to treat each other harshly.

(LY: vii) ⁴⁷“‘If a foreigner living with you has grown rich, and a member of your people has become poor and sells himself to this foreigner living with you or to a member of the foreigner’s family, ⁴⁸he may be redeemed after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or any near relative of his may redeem him; or, if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰He will calculate with the person who bought him the time from the year he sold himself to him to the year of yovel; and the amount to be paid will be according to the number of years and his time at an employee’s wage. ⁵¹If many years remain, according to them will he refund the amount for his redemption from the amount he was bought for. ⁵²If there remain only a few years until the year of yovel, then he will calculate with him; according to his years will he refund the amount for his redemption. ⁵³He will be like a worker hired year by year. You will see to it that he is not treated harshly.

⁵⁴“‘If he has not been redeemed by any of these procedures, nevertheless he will go free in the year of yovel — he and his children with him. (LY: Maftir) ⁵⁵For to me the people of Isra’el are slaves; they are my slaves whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

Leviticus 25 New King James Version

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year(A)