25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year,13 and you must proclaim a release14 in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee;15 each one of you must return16 to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.
tnHeb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC435§134.o, note 2).
14
tn Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “liberty”; TEV, CEV “freedom.” The characteristics of this “release” are detailed in the following verses. For substantial summaries and bibliography on the biblical and ancient Near Eastern material regarding such a “release” see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 427–34, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 270–74.
15
tnHeb “A jubilee that shall be to you.” Although there has been some significant debate about the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated “jubilee” (יוֹבֵל, yovel; see the summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 434), the term most likely means “ram” and can refer also to a “ram’s horn.” The fiftieth year would, therefore, be called the “jubilee” because of the associated sounding of the “ram’s horn” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 172, and the literature cited there).