LEVITICUS 25

Then Yehowah spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, and said, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to Yehowah. 3 You shall sow your fields and prune your vineyards for six years; and you shall gather in their produce. 4 But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Yehowah; you shall neither sow your fields nor prune your vineyards. 5 You shall not reap what grows by itself in your harvest, and you shall not gather the grapes on your undressed vines; the land shall have a year of rest. 6 And the land's sabbath shall provide food for you: for you, for your male and female slaves, for your hired servants, for your guests who live with you, 7 for your cattle, and for the wild animals which are in your land, all its produce shall be for food.

8 And you shall reckon seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and you shall have a time of seven sabbaths of years, forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall send the loud trumpet around in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Reconciliation you shall send the trumpet throughout your land. 10 And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all who live in it; it shall be a jubilee for you; each of you shall return to his possession, and each shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; you shall neither sow, nor reap what grows by itself, nor gather from the undressed vines; 12 for it is a jubilee, which shall be holy for you; you shall eat the produce of the fields.

13 In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And when you sell anything to your neighbour, or buy from your neighbor's hands, you shall not oppress one another. 15 You shall buy from your neighbour, reckoning the number of years after the jubilee; and he shall sell to you, reckoning the number of years of crops. 16 If the years are many you shall increase its price, and if the years are few you shall reduce its price; for it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. 17 You shall not oppress one another therefore, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yehowah your God.

18 So you shall observe my statutes, and take care to observe my regulations; and you will live in the land securely. 19 And the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill; and you will live in the land securely. 20 And if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we are not to sow or to gather in our produce? 21 I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth the produce of three years. 22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat of the old produce; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, until its produce comes in.

23 And the land shall not be sold outright, for the land is mine; for you are settlers and guests with me. 24 And in all the land that you possess you shall grant a right of redemption for the land.

25 If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his possession, then his redeemer who is near to him shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 But if a man has no redeemer, yet can put his hands on something, finding sufficient to redeem his possession, 27 then he shall count the number of years since its sale, and restore the balance to the one to whom he sold it; and he shall come into his possession again. 28 But if his hands cannot find sufficient to restore it to himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of the one who bought it till the year of jubilee; and it shall revert in the jubilee, and the man shall come into his possession again.

29 And if a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city, he shall have the right of redemption for a whole year after it is sold; for that period he shall have the right of redemption. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the period of a whole year, then the house in the walled city shall belong to the one who bought it and to his generations for ever; it shall not revert in the jubilee. 31 But houses in villages having no walls round them shall be reckoned like the fields in the land; they can be redeemed and shall revert in the jubilee. 32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall have perpetual right of redemption of the houses of the cities of their possession. 33 So if a man purchases* from the Levites, the house that is sold in the city** of that possession shall revert in the jubilee; for houses in the cities of the Levites remain their possession among the sons of Israel. 34 Nor may the common land round their cities be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. * lit redeems ** lit and the city

35 And if your brother becomes poor and feeble, you shall support him; he shall live with you as a settler or guest. 36 Take no interest or increase from him, but fear your God, so that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your silver at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 I am Yehowah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39 And if your brother becomes poor with you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. 40 He shall be with you as a hired servant and a guest, he shall serve you till the year of jubilee, 41 and then go from you together with his sons; and he shall go back to his family, and return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not sell themselves as slaves. 43 You shall not dominate him rigorously, but shall fear your God. 44 Now as for the male and female slaves whom you may have, you can buy male and female slaves from the nations that are round about you. 45 Moreover, you may buy from the sons of the guests who settle among you, from them and their families which are with you, which have been born in your land; for they shall be your possession. 46 And you shall take them for an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession; you may make lifelong slaves of them; but as for your brothers the sons of Israel, you shall not dominate one another rigorously.

47 And if a settler or a guest with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the settler or guest with you, or to a member of the settler's family, 48 he shall have the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him: 49 his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him; a near relation of his family may redeem him; or if he grows rich he may redeem himself. 50 Then he shall reckon with the one who bought him, from the year he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his release shall be according to the number of those years; he shall be rated by the man according to the value* of a hired servant. 51 If there are many years remaining, he shall refund for his redemption a proportionate part of the silver for which he was bought. 52 If but few years remain till the year of jubilee, then he shall come to an agreement with him; according to that time he shall refund the price of his redemption. 53 He shall be with him like a servant hired year by year; he shall not dominate him rigorously in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed in this way, then he shall be released in the year of jubilee, together with his sons. 55 For the sons of Israel are servants to me; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am Yehowah your God. * lit days