Leviticus 25:8–38

The Year of Jubilee

25:8–38Ref—Dt 15:1–11
25:39–55Ref—Ex 21:2–11; Dt 15:12–18

8 “ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpetd sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month;e on the Day of Atonementf sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim libertyg throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubileeh for you; each of you is to return to your family propertyi and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubileej for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.k 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubileel everyone is to return to their own property.

14 “ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other.m 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of yearsn since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price,o because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other,p but fear your God.q I am the Lord your God.r

18 “ ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws,s and you will live safely in the land.t 19 Then the land will yield its fruit,u and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.v 20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh yearw if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21 I will send you such a blessingx in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.y 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.z

23 “ ‘The landa must not be sold permanently, because the land is mineb and you reside in my land as foreignersc and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemptiond of the land.

25 “ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relativee is to come and redeemf what they have sold. 26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosperg and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27 they are to determine the value for the yearsh since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.i 28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returnedj in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.k

29 “ ‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

32 “ ‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns,l which they possess. 33 So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34 But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.m

35 “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poorn and are unable to support themselves among you, help themo as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interestp or any profit from them, but fear your God,q so that they may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend them money at interestr or sell them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaans and to be your God.t