New International Version
Leviticus 25:23
23“ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
Leviticus 25:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.
Context of Leviticus 25:23
21I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. “ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. 25“ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold.
Read all of Leviticus 25Leviticus 25:23 word by word
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ לֹ֤א תִמָּכֵר֙ לִצְמִתֻ֔ת כִּי־לִ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֧ים וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים אַתֶּ֖ם עִמָּדִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 25:23
- Leviticus 25:10Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.
- 1 Kings 21:3But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”
- Ezekiel 48:14They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 32:43Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.
- 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
- Psalms 24:1The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
- Psalms 85:1You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
- Isaiah 8:8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”
- Hosea 9:3They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Joel 2:18Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.
- Joel 3:2I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.
- Genesis 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:15We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Psalms 39:12“Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
- Psalms 119:19I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
- Hebrews 11:9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
Commentaries on Leviticus 25:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23The land shall not be sold for ever - the land is mine - As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favorable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23These verses express the principle on which the law of Jubilee, as it regards the land, was based. The land belonged to Yahweh, and it was He who allotted it among the families of Israel for their use. No estate could therefore be alienated in perpetuity, by any human authority, from the family to whose lot it might fall. Leviticus 25:24 Grant a redemption for the land - i. e. grant power to recover the land to the original holder who had parted with it.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 23-34Verses 23-34 If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23it is Mine: Israel did not own the land in an absolute way. Their right to live there depended on the covenant, because God himself gave them the land (Deuteronomy 1:8, 39). From this idea of God’s ownership comes the call to care for the land as stewards and to share material resources with others.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 23-2823-28. The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families--who, however, held it of Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect a temporary sale. But they possessed the…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 25:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 25
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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