Leviticus 25

The Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee

1The Lord then spoke to Moses 1at Mount Sinai, saying, 2“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. 32Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, 4but during 3the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5Your harvest’s 4aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. 65All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. 7Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.

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. 9You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on 6the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. 10You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and 7proclaim 8a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, 9and 10each of you shall return to his own property, 11and each of you shall return to his family. 11You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. 12For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.

13‘12On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. 14If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend’s hand, 13you shall not wrong one another. 15Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your 14friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. 1615In proportion to the 16extent 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 a number of crops he is selling to you. 17So 17you shall not wrong one another, but you shall 18fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

18‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that 19you may live securely on the land. 19Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 20But if you say, “20What are we going to eat on the seventh year 21if we do not sow or gather in our crops?” 21then 22I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. 22When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat 23old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.

The Law of Redemption

23‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for 24the land is Mine; for 25you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. 24Thus for every 26piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

25‘27If a 28fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his 29relative has sold. 26Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so 30recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, 2731then 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 property. 28But if 32he has not found sufficient means to get it back for 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 33revert, that 34he may return to his property.

29‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house 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. 30But if it is not bought back 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 35revert in the jubilee. 31The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered 36as open fields; they have redemption rights and 37revert in the jubilee. 32As for 38cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. 33What, therefore, 39belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale 40in the city of this possession 41reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. 3442But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession.

Of Poor Countrymen

35‘43Now in case a 44countryman of yours becomes poor and his 45means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 3646Do not take 47usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your 48countryman may live with you. 37You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. 3849I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and 50to be your God.

39‘51If a 52countryman 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. 40He shall be with you as a hired man, as 53if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. 41He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. 42For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 4354You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God. 44As 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. 45Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have 55produced in your land; they also may become your possession. 46You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. 56But in respect to your 57countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.

Of Redeeming a Poor Man

47‘Now if the 58means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a 59countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, 48then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or 6061if he prospers, he may redeem himself. 50He 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. 51If there are still many years, 62he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; 52and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. 53Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; 63he shall not rule over him with severity in your sight. 54Even if he is not redeemed by 64these means, 65he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. 55For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.