Leviticus 25:1–26:2
The Sabbath of the Seventh Year
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount aSinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall bkeep a sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4 but in the cseventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn drest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 eWhat grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7 for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
8 ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; fon the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and gproclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; hand each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it iyou shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; jyou shall eat its produce from the field.
13 k‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not loppress one another. 15 mAccording to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17 Therefore nyou shall not 1oppress one another, obut you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
Provisions for the Seventh Year
18 p‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; qand you will dwell in the land in safety. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and ryou will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.
20 ‘And if you say, s“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since twe shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21 Then I will ucommand My blessing on you in the vsixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22 wAnd you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat xold produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for ythe land is Mine; for you are zstrangers and sojourners with Me. 24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
25 a‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if bhis redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27 then clet him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; dand in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
29 ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32 Nevertheless ethe cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But fthe field of the common-land of their cities may not be gsold, for it is their perpetual possession.
35 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and 2falls into poverty among you, then you shall hhelp him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 iTake no usury or interest from him; but jfear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38 kI am the Lord 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 one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you—he and his children lwith him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are mMy servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 nYou shall not rule over him owith 3rigor, but you pshall fear your God. 44 And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover you may buy qthe children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46 And ryou may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.
47 ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50 Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be saccording to the time of a hired servant for him. 51 If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. 52 And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. 53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Promise of Blessing and Retribution
26 ‘You shall anot make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;
nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the Lord your God.
2 bYou shall 1keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.