Leviticus 25:13-28

New International Reader's Version

¹³ “ ‘In the Year of Jubilee all of you must return to your own property.

¹⁴ “ ‘Suppose you sell land to any of your own people. Or you buy land from them. Then do not take advantage of each other. ¹⁵ The price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last Year of Jubilee. Here is how the price you charge must be decided. It must be based on the number of years left for gathering crops before the next Year of Jubilee. ¹⁶ When there are many years left, you must raise the price. When there are only a few years left, you must lower the price. That is because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops the land will produce. ¹⁷ Do not take advantage of each other. Instead, have respect for your God. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ “ ‘Follow my rules. Be careful to obey my laws. Then you will live safely in the land. ¹⁹ The land will produce its fruit. You will eat as much as you want. And you will live there in safety. ²⁰ Suppose you say, “In the seventh year we will not plant anything or gather our crops. So what will we eat?” ²¹ I will send you a great blessing in the sixth year. The land will produce enough for three years. ²² While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat food from the old crop. You will continue to eat food from it until the crops from the ninth year are gathered.

²³ “ ‘The land must not be sold without a way of getting it back. That is because it belongs to me. You are only outsiders and strangers in my land. ²⁴ You must make sure that you can buy the land back. That applies to all the land that belongs to you.

²⁵ “ ‘Suppose one of your own people becomes poor. And suppose they have to sell some of their land. Then their nearest relative must come and buy back what they have sold. ²⁶ But suppose they do not have anyone to buy it back for them. And suppose things go well for them and they earn enough money to buy it back themselves. ²⁷ Then they must decide how much the crops have become worth since the time they sold the land. They must take that amount off the price the land was sold for. They must give the one selling it back to them the money that is left. Then they can go back to their own property. ²⁸ But suppose they have not earned enough money to pay them back. Then the buyer they sold the land to will keep it until the Year of Jubilee. At that time it will be returned to them. Then they can go back to their property.