Leviticus 25:25-41

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.

26Or in case a man has no relative [to redeem his property], but he has become more prosperous and has enough to buy it back,

27then 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.

28But if 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.

30But 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.

31The 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.

32As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses in the cities which they possess.

33Therefore, 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.

34But the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.

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.

36Do not charge him usurious interest, but fear your God [with profound reverence], so your countryman may [continue to] live among you.

37You shall not give him your money at interest, nor your food at a profit.

38I 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],

40but 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,

41and 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.