Chapter 25

The Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee

1 The Lord then spoke to Moses 1at Mount Sinai, saying,

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord.

3 ‘aSix years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop,

4 but during athe seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

5 ‘Your harvest’s 1aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.

6 ‘aAll of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you.

7 ‘Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.

8 ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.

9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on athe tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land.

10 ‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and aproclaim 1a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, 2and beach of you shall return to his own property, 2and each of you shall return to his family.

11 ‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.

12 ‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.

13 ‘aOn this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property.

14 ‘If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend’s hand, ayou shall not wrong one another.

15 ‘Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your 1friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.

16 ‘aIn proportion to the 1extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you.

17 ‘So ayou shall not wrong one another, but you shall 1fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

18 ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that ayou may live securely on the land.

19 ‘Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it.

20 ‘But if you say, “aWhat are we going to eat on the seventh year 1if we do not sow or gather in our crops?”

21 then aI will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years.

22 ‘When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat aold things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.

The Law of Redemption

23 ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for athe land is Mine; for byou are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

24 ‘Thus for every 1piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

25 ‘aIf a 1fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his 1relative has sold.

26 ‘Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so 1recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption,

27 athen he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property.

28 ‘But if 1he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall 2revert, that ahe may return to his property.

29 ‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year.

30 ‘But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not 1revert in the jubilee.

31 ‘The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered 1as open fields; they have redemption rights and 2revert in the jubilee.

32 ‘As for acities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.

33 ‘What, therefore, 1belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale 2in the city of this possession 3reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.

34 ‘aBut pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession.

Of Poor Countrymen

35 ‘aNow in case a 1countryman of yours becomes poor and his 2means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.

36 ‘aDo not take 1usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your 2countryman may live with you.

37 ‘You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.

38 ‘aI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and bto be your God.

39 ‘aIf a 1countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service.

40 ‘He shall be with you as a hired man, as aif he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.

41 ‘He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.

42 ‘For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.

43 ‘aYou shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.

44 ‘As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.

45 ‘Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have 1produced in your land; they also may become your possession.

46 ‘You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. aBut in respect to your 1countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.

Of Redeeming a Poor Man

47 ‘Now if the 1means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a 2countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family,

48 then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him,

49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or 1aif he prospers, he may redeem himself.

50 ‘He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him.

51 ‘If there are still many years, ahe shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption;

52 and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption.

53 ‘Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; ahe shall not rule over him with severity in your sight.

54 ‘Even if he is not redeemed by 1these means, ahe shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him.

55 ‘For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.