CHAPTER 25
“Speak
to
the Israelites
and say,
‘When
you enter
the land
I
am giving
you,
the land itself
must observe
a Sabbath
to the LORD.
But in the seventh
year
there shall be
a Sabbath
of complete rest
for the land—
a Sabbath
to the LORD.
You are not
to sow
your field
or prune
your vineyard.
You are not
to reap
the aftergrowth
of your harvest
or gather
the grapes
of your untended vines.
The land
must have
a year
of complete rest.
Whatever the land
yields
during the Sabbath year
shall be
food for you—
for yourself,
your manservant
and maidservant,
the hired hand
or foreigner
who stays
with you,
And you
shall count off
seven
sabbaths
of years—
seven
times
seven
years—
so that time
of the seven
sabbatical
years
amounts to forty-nine
years.
Then you are to sound
the trumpet
far and wide
on the tenth day
of the seventh
month,
on the Day
of Atonement.
You shall sound
it
throughout
your land.
So you are to consecrate
the fiftieth
year
and proclaim
liberty
in the land
for all
its inhabitants.
It
shall be
your
Jubilee,
when each
of you is to return
to
his property
and
to
his clan.
The fiftieth
year
will be
a jubilee
for you;
you are not
to sow
or
reap
what grows by itself
or harvest
the untended vines.
For
it is
a jubilee;
it shall be
holy
to you.
You may eat only
the crops taken
directly from
the field.
If
you make a sale
to your neighbor
or
a purchase
from
him,
you must not
take advantage
of one
another.
You are to buy
from
your neighbor
according to the number
of years
since
the last Jubilee;
he is to sell
to you
according to the number
of harvest
years remaining.
In proportion
to a greater number
of years
you shall increase
the price,
or decrease
it
in proportion to
a lesser
number of years;
for
he
is selling
you
a given number of
harvests.
You are to keep
My statutes
and
carefully
observe
My judgments,
so that you may dwell
securely
in
the land.
Then the land
will yield
its fruit,
so that you can eat
your fill
and dwell
in safety
in the land.
Now
you may wonder,
‘What
will we eat
in the seventh
year
if
we do not
sow
or gather
our produce?’
But I will send
My blessing
upon you
in the sixth
year,
so that the land will yield
a crop
sufficient for three
years.
While you are sowing
in the eighth
year,
you will be eating
from
the previous
harvest
until
the ninth
year,
when
its harvest
comes in.
The land
must not
be sold
permanently,
because
it is Mine,
and
you
are but foreigners
and sojourners
with Me.
If
your brother
becomes impoverished
and sells
some of his property,
his nearest
of kin
may come
and redeem
what his brother
has sold.
Or if
a man
has
no one
to redeem it
for him,
but he prospers
and acquires
enough
to redeem his land,
he shall calculate
the years
since its sale,
repay
the balance
to the man
to
whom
he sold it,
and return
to his property.
But if
he cannot
obtain
enough
to repay
him,
what he sold
will remain
in possession
of the buyer
until
the Year
of Jubilee.
In the Jubilee,
however, it is to be released,
so that he may return
to his property.
If
a man
sells
a house
in a walled
city,
he retains
his right of redemption
until
a full
year
after its sale;
during that year
it may be
redeemed.
If
it is not
redeemed
by the end
of a full
year,
then the house
in the walled
city
is permanently
transferred to its buyer
and his descendants.
It is not
to be released
in the Jubilee.
But houses
in villages
with
no
walls
around them
are considered
as open fields.
They may be redeemed,
and they shall be
released
in the Jubilee.
As for the cities
of the Levites,
the Levites
always
have
the right to redeem
their houses
in the cities
they possess.
So whatever
belongs to
the Levites
may be redeemed—
a house
sold
in a city
they possess—
and must be released
in the Jubilee,
because
the houses
in the cities
of the Levites
are their possession
among
the Israelites.
Now if
your countryman
becomes destitute
and cannot support
himself among you,
you are to help
him
like a foreigner
or temporary resident,
so that he can continue to live
among you.
Do not
take
any interest
or profit
from him,
but fear
your God,
that your countryman
may live
among you.
I
am the LORD
your God,
who
brought you out
of Egypt
to give
you the land
of Canaan
and to be
your God.
If
a countryman
among you
becomes destitute
and sells himself
to you,
you must not
force
him into
slave
labor.
Let him stay
with you
as a hired worker
or temporary resident;
he is to work
for
you until
the Year
of Jubilee.
Then he
and his children
are to be released,
and he may return
to
his clan
and to
the property
of his fathers.
Because
the Israelites are
My servants,
whom
I brought out
of Egypt,
they are not
to be sold
as slaves.
Your male
and female slaves
shall come
from
the nations
around you;
from them
you may purchase
slaves.
You may also
purchase them
from the
foreigners
residing
among you
or their clans
living among you
who
are born
in your land.
These may become
your
property.
You may leave
them
to your sons
after
you to inherit
as property;
you can make them slaves
for life.
But as for your brothers,
the Israelites,
no
man
may rule
harshly
over his brother.
If
a foreigner
or temporary resident
living among
you prospers,
but your brother
dwelling near him
becomes poor
and sells himself
to the foreigner
or
to a member
of his
clan,
he retains
the right of redemption
after
he has sold himself.
One
of his brothers
may redeem him:
either
his uncle
or
cousin,
or
any close relative
from his clan,
may redeem him.
Or if
he prospers,
he may redeem himself.
He and
his purchaser
will then count the time
from the year
he sold
himself
up to
the Year
of Jubilee.
The price
of his sale
will be
determined by the number
of years,
based on
the daily
wages of a hired hand.
If
only a few
years
remain
until
the Year
of Jubilee,
he is to calculate
and pay
his redemption
according to
his remaining years.
Like a man hired
from year
to year,
he will stay
with him,
but a foreign owner must not
rule
over him harshly
in your sight.
Even if
he is not
redeemed
in any of these ways,
he
and his children
shall be released
in the Year
of Jubilee.
For
the Israelites
are My servants.
They
are My servants,
whom
I brought out
of Egypt.
I
am the LORD
your God.