Leviticus 25

1 Yahweh said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

And the Lord spoke to Moses in the mount Sina, saying,

2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh.

Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, Whenever you shall have entered into the land, which I give to you, then the land shall rest which I give to you, for its sabbaths to the Lord.

3 You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vine, and gather in its fruit.

4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

But in the seventh year [shall be] a sabbath, it shall be a rest to the land, a sabbath to the Lord: you shall not sow your field, and you shall not prune your vine.

5 What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

And you shall not gather the spontaneous produce of your field, and you shall not gather fully the grapes of your dedication: it shall be a year of rest to the land.

6 The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.

And the sabbaths of the land shall be food for you, and for your man-servant, and for your maidservant, and your hireling, and the stranger that abides with you.

7 For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

And for your cattle, and for the wild beats that are in your land, shall every fruit of it be for food.

8 “‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.

And you shall reckon to yourself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and they shall be to you seven weeks of years, nine and forty years.

9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall make a proclamation with the sound of a trumpet in all your land; on the day of atonement you shall make a proclamation with a trumpet in all your land.

10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

And you shall sanctify the year, the fifties year, and you shall proclaim a release upon the land to all that inhabit it; it shall be given a year of release, a jubilee for you; and each one shall depart to his possession, and you shall go each to his family.

11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.

This is a jubilee of release, the year shall be to you the fifties year: you shall not sow, nor reap the produce that comes of itself from the land, neither shall you gather its dedicated fruits.

12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

For it is a jubilee of release; it shall be holy to you, you shall eat its fruits off the fields.

13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

In the year of the release [even] the jubilee of it, shall [each] one return to his possession.

14 “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

And if you should sell a possession to your neighbour, or if you should buy of your neighbour, let not a man oppress his neighbour.

15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.

According to the number of years after the jubilee shall you buy of your neighbour, according to the number of years of the fruits shall he sell to you.

16 According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.

According as [there may be] a greater number of years he shall increase [the value of] his possession, and according as [there may be] a less number of years he shall lessen [the value of] his possession; for according to the number of his crops, so shall he sell to you.

17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.

Let not a man oppress his neighbour, and you shall fear the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.

18 “‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

And you shall keep all my ordinances, and all my judgements; and do you observe them, and you shall keep them, and dwell securely in the land.

19 The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

And the land shall yield her increase, and you shall eat to fullness, and shall dwell securely in it.

20 If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;”

And if you should say, What shall we eat in this seventh year, if we do not sow nor gather in our fruits?

21 then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.

Then will I send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and the land shall produce its fruits for three years.

22 You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits from the old store until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.

And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old fruits till the ninth year: until its fruit come, you shall eat old fruits of the old.

23 “‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.

And the land shall not be sold for a permanence; for the land is mine, because you are strangers and sojourners before me.

24 In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

And in every land of your possession, you shall allow ransoms for the land.

25 “‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.

And if your brother who is with you be poor, and should have sold [part] of his possession, and his kinsman who is near to him come, then he shall redeem the possession which his brother has sold.

26 If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,

And if one have no near kinsman, and he prosper with his hand, and he find sufficient money, [even] his ransom;

27 then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

then shall he calculate the years of his sale, and he shall give what is due to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession.

28 But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

But if his hand have not prospered sufficiently, so as that he should restore the money to him, then he that bought the possessions shall have them till the sixth year of the release; and it shall go out in the release, and the owner shall return to his possession.

29 “‘If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

And if any one should sell an inhabited house in a walled city, then there shall be the ransom of it, until [the time] is fulfilled: its time of ransom shall be a full year.

30 If it isn’t redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

And if it be not ransomed until there be completed of its time a full year, the house which is in the walled city shall be surely confirmed to him that bought it, throughout his generations; and it shall not go out in the release.

31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

But the houses in the villages which have not a wall round about them, shall be reckoned as the fields of the country: they shall always be redeemable, and they shall go out in the release.

32 “‘Nevertheless, in the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses in the cities of their possession at any time.

And the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities in their possession, shall be always redeemable to the Levites.

33 The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

And if any one shall redeem a house of the Levites, then shall their sale of the houses of their possession go out in the release; because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the children of Israel.

34 But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

And the lands set apart for their cities shall not be sold, because this is their perpetual possession.

35 “‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

And if your brother who is with you become poor, and he fail in resources with you, you shall help him as a stranger and a sojourner, and your brother shall live with you.

36 Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.

You shall not receive from him interest, nor increase: and you shall fear your God: I [am] the Lord: and your brother shall live with you.

37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

You shall not lend your money to him at interest, and you shall not lend your meat to him to be returned with increase.

38 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

I [am] the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Chanaan, so as to be your God.

39 “‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

And if your brother by you be lowered, and be sold to you, he shall not serve you with the servitude of a slave.

40 As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee.

He shall be with you as a hireling or a sojourner, he shall work for you till the year of release:

41 Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.

and he shall go out in the release, and his children with him; and he shall go to his family, he shall hasten back to his patrimony.

42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.

Because these are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; such an one shall not be sold as a [common] servant.

43 You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

You shall not oppress him with labour, and shall fear the Lord your God.

44 “‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.

And whatever number of menservants and maidservants you shall have, you shall purchase male and female servants from the nations that are round about you.

45 Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.

And of the sons of the sojourners that are amongst you, of these you shall buy and of their relations, all that shall be in your lands; let them be to you for a possession.

46 You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

And you shall distribute them to your children after you, and they shall be to you permanent possessions for ever: but of your brethren the children of Israel, one shall not oppress his brother in labours.

47 “‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,

And if a stranger or sojourner with you wax rich, and your brother in distress be sold to the stranger or the sojourner that is with you, or to a proselyte by extraction;

48 after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;

after he is sold to him there shall be redemption for him, one of his brethren shall redeem him.

49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.

A brother of his father, or a son of his father's brother shall redeem him; or let one of his near kin of his tribe redeem him, and if he should be rich and redeem himself,

50 He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.

then shall he calculate with his purchaser from the year that he sold himself to him until the year of release: and the money of his purchase shall be as that of a hireling, he shall be with him from year to year.

51 If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

And if any have a greater number of years [than enough], according to these he shall pay his ransom out of his purchase-money.

52 If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.

And if but a little time be left of the years to the year of release, then shall he reckon to him according to his years, and shall pay his ransom

53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

as a hireling; he shall be with him from year to year; you shall not oppress him with labour before you.

54 If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee: he and his children with him.

And if he do not pay his ransom accordingly, he shall go out in the year of his release, he and his children with him.

55 For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

For the children of Israel are my servants: they are my attendants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt.