Leviticus 25
1 Yahweh said to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain,
And the Lord spake vnto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2 “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.
Speake vnto the children of Israel, and say vnto them, When ye shall come into the lande which I giue you, the lande shall keepe Sabbath vnto the Lord.
3 For six years you are to plant seeds in your fields and prune your grapevines and harvest the crops.
Sixe yeeres thou shalt sowe thy field, and sixe yeeres thou shalt cut thy vineyarde, and gather the fruite thereof.
4 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].
But the seuenth yeere shalbe a Sabbath of rest vnto the lande: it shall be the Lordes Sabbath: thou shalt neither sowe thy fielde, nor cut thy vineyarde.
5 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.
That which groweth of it owne accorde of thy haruest, thou shalt not reape, neither gather the grapes that thou hast left vnlaboured: for it shalbe a yeere of rest vnto the land.
6 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.
And the rest of the lande shall be meate for you, euen for thee, and for thy seruant, and for thy mayde, and for thy hired seruant, and for the stranger that soiourneth with thee:
7 Also, [during that year] your livestock and the wild animals in your land are permitted to eat it.’
And for thy cattell, and for the beastes that are in thy lande shall all the encrease thereof be meate.
8 ‘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.
Also thou shalt number seuen Sabbaths of yeeres vnto thee, euen seuen times seuen yeere: and the space of the seuen Sabbaths of yeeres will be vnto thee nine and fourtie yeere.
Then thou shalt cause to blow the trumpet of the Iubile in the tenth day of the seuenth moneth: euen in the day of the reconciliation shall ye make the trumpet blowe, throughout all your lande.
10 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).
And ye shall halowe that yeere, euen the fiftieth yeere, and proclaime libertie in the lande to all the inhabitants thereof: it shalbe the Iubile vnto you, and ye shall returne euery man vnto his possession, and euery man shall returne vnto his familie.
11 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.
This fiftieth yeere shalbe a yeere of Iubile vnto you: ye shall not sowe, neither reape that which groweth of it selfe, neither gather the grapes thereof, that are left vnlaboured.
12 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).
For it is the Iubile, it shall be holy vnto you: ye shall eate of the encrease thereof out of the fielde.
13 ‘In that Year of Celebration, everyone must return to their own property.
In the yeere of this Iubile, ye shall returne euery man vnto his possession.
14 ‘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:
And when thou sellest ought to thy neighbour, or byest at thy neighbours hande, ye shall not oppresse one another:
15 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.
But according to the nomber of yeeres after the Iubile thou shalt bye of thy neighbour: also according to the nomber of the yeeres of the reuenues, he shall sell vnto thee.
16 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].
According to the multitude of yeeres, thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewnesse of yeeres, thou shalt abate the price of it: for the nomber of fruites doeth he sell vnto thee.
17 Do not cheat each other; instead, revere me. I, Yahweh your God, [am the one who am commanding this].
Oppresse not ye therefore any man his neighbour, but thou shalt feare thy God: for I am the Lord your God.
18 ‘Obey all my laws [DOU] carefully. If you do that, you will continue to live safely in your country [DOU].
Wherefore ye shall obey mine ordinances, and keepe my lawes, and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land in safetie.
19 And crops will grow well on the land, and you will have plenty to eat.
And the lande shall giue her fruite, and ye shall eate your fill, and dwell therein in safetie.
20 But you may ask, “If we do not plant or harvest our crops during the seventh year, what will we have to eat?”
And if ye shall say, What shall we eate the seuenth yeere, for we shall not sowe, nor gather in our increase?
21 [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!
I will sende my blessing vpon you in the sixt yeere, and it shall bring foorth fruite for three yeeres.
22 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!
And ye shall sowe the eight yeere, and eate of the olde fruite vntill the ninth yeere: vntill the fruite thereof come, ye shall eate the olde.
23 ‘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.
Also the lande shall not be solde to be cut off from the familie: for the land is mine, and ye be but strangers and soiourners with me.
24 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].
Therefore in all the land of your possession ye shall graunt a redemption for the lande.
25 ‘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.
If thy brother be impouerished, and sell his possession, then his redeemer shall come, euen his neere kinsman, and bye out that which his brother solde.
26 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,
And if he haue no redeemer, but hath gotten and founde to bye it out,
27 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.
Then shall he count the yeeres of his sale, and restore the ouerplus to the man, to whome he solde it: so shall he returne to his possession.
28 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.
But if he can not get sufficient to restore to him, then that which is solde, shall remaine in the hande of him that hath bought it, vntill the yere of the Iubile: and in the Iubile it shall come out, and he shall returne vnto his possession.
29 ‘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.
Likewise if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled citie, he may bye it out againe within a whole yeere after it is solde: within a yeere may he bye it out.
30 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.
But if it be not bought out within ye space of a ful yeere, then the house that is in the walled citie, shalbe stablished, as cut off from the familie, to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not goe out in the Iubile.
31 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.
But the houses of villages, which haue no walles round about them, shalbe esteemed as the fielde of the countrey: they may be bought out againe, and shall goe out in the Iubile.
32 ‘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.
Notwithstanding, the cities of the Leuites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Leuites redeeme at all seasons.
33 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].
And if a man purchase of the Leuites, the house that was solde, and the citie of their possession shall goe out in the Iubile: for the houses of the cities of the Leuites are their possession among the children of Israel.
34 But the pastureland near their towns must not be sold. It must belong to the original owners permanently/forever.
But the fielde of the suburbes of their cities, shall not be solde: for it is their perpetuall possession.
35 ‘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.
Moreouer, if thy brother be impouerished, and fallen in decay with thee, thou shalt relieue him, and as a stranger and soiourner, so shall he liue with thee.
36 [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.
Thou shalt take no vsurie of him, nor vantage, but thou shalt feare thy God, that thy brother may liue with thee.
37 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.
Thou shalt not giue him thy money to vsurie, nor lende him thy vitailes for increase.
38 [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].
I am the Lord your God, which haue brought you out of the lande of Egypt, to giue you the lande of Canaan, and to be your God.
39 ‘If one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not force him to work like a slave.
If thy brother also that dwelleth by thee, be impouerished, and be sold vnto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serue as a bond seruant,
40 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.
But as an hired seruant, and as a soiourner he shalbe with thee: he shall serue thee vnto the yeere of the Iubile.
41 During that year, you must free him, and he will go back to his family and to the property that his ancestors owned.
Then shall he depart from thee, both hee, and his children with him, and shall returne vnto his familie, and vnto the possession of his fathers shall he returne:
42 [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.
For they are my seruants, whom I brought out of the lande of Egypt: they shall not be solde as bondmen are solde.
43 And do not treat the Israelis whom you buy cruelly; instead, revere me, your God.
Thou shalt not rule ouer him cruelly, but shalt feare thy God.
44 ‘If you want to have slaves, you are permitted to buy them from nearby countries.
Thy bond seruant also, and thy bond maid, which thou shalt haue, shalbe of the heathen that are rounde about you: of them shall ye bye seruants and maydes.
45 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.
And moreouer of the children of the stragers, that are soiourners among you, of them shall ye bye, and of their families that are with you, which they begate in your lande: these shall be your possession.
46 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.
So ye shall take them as inheritance for your children after you, to possesse them by inheritance, ye shall vse their labours for euer: but ouer your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule one ouer another with crueltie.
47 ‘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,
If a soiourner or a stranger dwelling by thee get riches, and thy brother by him be impouerished, and sell him selfe vnto the stranger or soiourner dwelling by thee, or to the stocke of the strangers familie,
48 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:
After that he is solde, he may be bought out: one of his brethren may bye him out,
49 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.
Or his vncle, or his vncles sonne may bye him out, or any of the kindred of his flesh among his familie, may redeeme him: either if he can get so much, he may bye him selfe out.
50 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.
Then he shall recken with his byer from the yeere that he was solde to him, vnto the yere of Iubile: and the money of his sale shalbe according to the number of yeeres: according to the time of an hyred seruant shall he be with him.
51 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.
If there be many yeeres behind, according to them he shall giue againe for his deliuerance, of the money that he was bought for.
52 If there are only a few years that remain until the Year of Celebration, he must pay a smaller amount to be released.
If there remaine but fewe yeeres vnto the yeere of Iubile, then he shall count with him, and according to his yeeres giue againe for his redemption.
53 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.
He shalbe with him yeere by yeere as an hired seruant: he shall not rule cruelly ouer him in thy sight.
54 ‘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,
And if he be not redeemed thus, he shall go out in the yeere of Iubile, he, and his children with him.
55 because [it is as though] you Israelis are my slaves/servants, whom I, Yahweh your God, freed from [being slaves in] Egypt.’”
For vnto me the children of Israel are seruants: they are my seruants, who I haue brought out of the land of Egypt: I am ye Lord your God.
