Leviticus 25

1 Yahweh said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

Yahweh said to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain,

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.

“Tell the Israelis [that I, Yahweh, say this]: When you enter the land that I am about to give you, every seventh year you must honor me by [not planting any seeds. You will be] allowing the ground to rest.

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

For six years you are to plant seeds in your fields and prune your grapevines and harvest the crops.

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 the seventh/next year you must [dedicate] to me, and allow your fields to rest. Do not plant seeds in your fields or prune your grapevines [during that year].

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.

Do not reap [the grain] that grows in your fields without having been planted, or harvest the grapes that grow [without the vines being pruned]; you must allow the land to rest for that one year.

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.

But you are permitted to eat whatever crops grow by themselves during that year without having been planted. You and your male and female servants, and workers whom you have hired, and people who are living among you temporarily are permitted to eat it.

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

Also, [during that year] your livestock and the wild animals in your land are permitted to eat it.’

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.

‘Also, after every 49 years has ended, you must do this: (On the tenth day of the seventh month/At the end of September) [of the next/50th year], blow trumpets throughout the country, to declare that it will be a day on which you request that I forgive you for the sins that you have committed.

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.

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.

Set apart that year, and proclaim that throughout the country, it will be a year of restoring the land and freeing people: All the people [who sold their property] will receive back the property that they previously owned, and slaves must be (freed/allowed to return to [their property and] their families).

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.

That year will be a Year of Celebration; [during that year] do not plant anything, and do not harvest [in the usual way] the grain/wheat that grows without having been planted, or the grapes that grow without the vines being pruned.

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

It will be a Year of Celebration, so eat [only] what grows in the fields (by itself/without any work being done to produce anything).

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

‘In that Year of Celebration, everyone must return to their own property.

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

‘If you sell some of your land to a fellow Israeli or if you buy some land from one of them, you must treat that person fairly:

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.

If you buy land, the price that you will pay will depend on the number of years there will be until the next Year of Celebration. If someone sells land to you, he will charge a price that is determined by the number of years until the next Year of Celebration.

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.

If there will be many years before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher; if there will be only a few years until the next Year of Celebration, the price will be lower. [You could say that] what he is really selling you is the number of crops [which you can harvest before the next Year of Celebration].

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

Do not cheat each other; instead, revere me. I, Yahweh your God, [am the one who am commanding this].

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

‘Obey all my laws [DOU] carefully. If you do that, you will continue to live safely in your country [DOU].

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

And crops will grow well on the land, and you will have plenty to eat.

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

But you may ask, “If we do not plant or harvest our crops during the seventh year, what will we have to eat?”

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

[My answer is that] I will bless you very much during the sixth/previous year, with the result that during that year there will be enough crops to provide food for you 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.

Then, after you plant seed during the eighth/next year [and wait for the crops to grow], you will eat the food grown in the sixth year, and continue to eat it until more food is harvested in the ninth year!

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

‘You must not sell any of your land to belong to someone else permanently, because the land [is not yours, it]; is really mine, and you are only living on it temporarily and (farming/taking care of) it for me.

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

Throughout the country that you will possess, you must remember that if someone sells some of his land to you, he is permitted to buy it back from you [if he wants to].

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.

‘So, if one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells some of his property [to obtain some money], the person who is most closely related to him is permitted to come and buy that land for him.

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

However, if a man has no one to buy the land for him, and he himself prospers again and saves enough money to buy that land back,

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.

he must calculate how many years there will be until the next Year of Celebration. Then he must pay to the man who bought the land the money that he would have earned by continuing to grow crops on that land for those years.

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 the original owner does not have any money to buy the land that he sold, it will continue to belong to the man who bought it, until the next Year of Celebration. In that year it must be returned to its original owner, and he will be able to live on it again.

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.

‘If someone who lives in a city that has a wall around it sells a house there, during the next year he will be permitted to buy it from the man who bought it.

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.

If he does not buy it during that year, it will belong permanently to the man who bought it and to his descendants. It must not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Celebration.

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 houses that are in villages that do not have walls around them are considered to be as though they are in a field. So if someone sells one of those houses, he is permitted to buy it back at any time. And [if he does not buy it], it must be returned to him in the Year of Celebration.

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

‘If any descendants of Levi sell their houses in the towns in which they live, they are permitted to buy them back at any time.

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 because the houses in their towns are on land that [was given to them by] other Israelis, that land will become theirs again in the Year of Celebration [if they do not buy it back before then].

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

But the pastureland near their towns must not be sold. It must belong to the original owners permanently/forever.

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.

‘If one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and is unable to buy what he needs [IDM], others of you must help him like you would help a foreigner who is living among you [DOU] temporarily.

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

[If you lend money to him], do not charge any kind of interest [DOU]. Instead, [show by what you do that you] revere me, your God, and help that man, in order that he will be able to continue to live among you.

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

If you lend him money, do not charge interest; and if you sell food to him, [charge him only what you paid for it]; do not get a profit from it.

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.

[Do not forget that] I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God and to give you the land of Canaan, [and I did not charge you for doing that].

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

‘If one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not force him to work like 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.

Treat him like you treat workers that you hire or like someone who is living on your land temporarily. But he must work for you [only] until the Year of Celebration.

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.

During that year, you must free him, and he will go back to his family and to the property that his ancestors owned.

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

[It is as though] you Israelis are my slaves/servants, whom I [freed from being slaves] in Egypt. So none of you should be sold to become slaves.

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

And do not treat the Israelis whom you buy cruelly; instead, revere me, 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.

‘If you want to have slaves, you are permitted to buy them from nearby countries.

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.

You are also permitted to buy some of the foreigners who are living among you, and members of their clans that were born in your country. Then you will own them.

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.

They will be your slaves for the remaining years of your life, and after you die, it is permitted for your children to own them. But you must not act in brutal ways toward your fellow Israelis.

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,

‘If a foreigner who is living among you [DOU] becomes rich, and if one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells himself to that foreigner or to a member of his clan/family,

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

it is permitted for someone to pay for him to be freed. It is permitted for one of his relatives to pay for him to be released:

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.

An uncle or a cousin or another relative in his clan may pay for him to be released. Or, if he prospers [and gets enough money], he is permitted to pay for his own release.

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.

The man who wants to pay for his own release must count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration. The price he pays to the man who bought him will depend on the pay that would be given to a hired worker for that number of years.

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.

If there are a lot of years that remain until the Year of Celebration, he must pay for his release a larger amount of the 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.

If there are only a few years that remain until the Year of Celebration, he must pay a smaller amount to be released.

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

During the years that he is working for the man who bought him, the man who bought him must treat him like he would treat a hired worker, and all of you must make sure that his owner does not treat him cruelly.

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 even if a fellow Israeli who has sold himself to a rich man is not able to pay for himself to be freed by any of these ways, he and his children must be freed in the Year of Celebration,

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.

because [it is as though] you Israelis are my slaves/servants, whom I, Yahweh your God, freed from [being slaves in] Egypt.’”