Leviticus 25:23

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.
• New International Version (NIV)“ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
• 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 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

21Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. 24And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. 25‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.

Leviticus 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.

• The landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• shall not be soldמָכַרmâkar · to sellH4376
• for everצְמִיתֻתtsemîythûth tsemithûth · finalityH6783
• strangersגֵּרgêr gêyr · sojournerH1616
• and sojournersתּוֹשָׁבtôshâb tôshâb · sojournerH8453

Cross-references for Leviticus 25:23

• Leviticus 25:10And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.
• 1 Kings 21:3But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
• Ezekiel 48:14And they shall not sell or exchange any of it; they may not alienate this best part of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.
• Deuteronomy 32:43“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
• 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
• Psalms 24:1The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
• Psalms 85:1Lord, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
• Isaiah 8:8He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck; And the stretching out of his wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.
• Hosea 9:3They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
• Joel 2:18Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people.
• Joel 3:2I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.
• Genesis 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
• 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.
• Psalms 39:12“Hear my prayer, O Lord, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
• Psalms 119:19I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
• Hebrews 11:9By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the 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

• Agriculture
• God Continued...
• Jubilee
• Land

In the dictionaries

• Accord
• Compel
• Decay
• Fill
• Increase
• Naboth
• Redeem
• Rest
• Sabbath
• Agrarian Laws

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