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 King James Version (NKJV)‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

Context of Leviticus 25:23

21Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 22And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 24And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. 25If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

Leviticus 25:23 word by word

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ לֹ֤א תִמָּכֵר֙ לִצְמִתֻ֔ת כִּי־לִ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֧ים וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים אַתֶּ֖ם עִמָּדִֽי׃Read the interlinear

• 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 ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
• 1 Kings 21:3And Naboth said to Ahab, Yhwh forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.
• Ezekiel 48:14And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto Yhwh.
• Deuteronomy 32:43Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
• 2 Chronicles 7:20Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
• Psalms 24:1The earth is Yhwh's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
• Psalms 85:1Yhwh, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
• Isaiah 8:8And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
• Hosea 9:3They shall not dwell in Yhwh's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
• Joel 2:18Then will Yhwh be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
• Joel 3:2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
• Genesis 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
• 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
• Psalms 39:12Hear my prayer, O Yhwh, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
• Psalms 119:19I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
• Hebrews 11:9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles 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
• Redemption
• Rest
• Sabbath

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