1 The Sabbatical Year Yahweh then spoke to Moses 25:1Or on at Mount Sinai, saying,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am giving to you, then the land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh.
3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce,
4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to Yahweh; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
5 25:5Lit The growth from spilled kernels What grows of its own accord from your harvest you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.
6 And the sabbathproduceof the land shall be for food; for you and your male and female slaves and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who sojourn with you.
7 Even your cattle and the beasts that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.The Year of Jubilee
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 the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land.
10 You shall thus set apart as holy the fiftieth year and proclaim 25:10Or liberty a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, 25:10Or when and each of you shall return to his own possessionof land, 25:10Or when and each of you shall return to his family.
11 You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow; you shall not reap what grows of its own accord; you shall not gather infromits untrimmed vines.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce out of the field.
13 ‘On this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his own possessionof land.
14 If you make a sale, moreover, to your companion or buy from your friend’s hand, you shall not mistreat one another.
15 Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your 25:15Lit companion’s hands companion; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of produce.
16 In proportion to the 25:16Lit multitude extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, forit is thenumber ofcrops itproducesthathe is selling to you.
17 So you shall not mistreat one another, but you shall 25:17Or reverence fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.
18 ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to do them, that you may live securely on the land.
19 Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it.
20 But if you say, “What are we going to eat on the seventh year 25:20Or behold if we do not sow or gather in our produce?”
21 then I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years.
22 So you shall sow the eighth year and eat old things from that produce, eatingthe olduntil the ninth year when its produce comes in.The Redemption of Land
23 ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you arebutsojourners and foreign residents with Me.
24 Thus for every 25:24Lit land piece of land of your possession, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.
25 ‘If a brother of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his possessionof land, then his nearest kinsman redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold.
26 Or in case a man has no kinsman redeemer, but 25:26 Lit his hand reaches recovers his means and finds sufficientpaymentfor its redemption,
27 then he shall calculate the years since its sale and return the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his possessionof land.
28 But if 25:28Lit his hand has not found sufficient to he has not found sufficient means to return it to 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 25:28Lit go out revert, that he may return to his possessionof land.
29 ‘Likewise, if a man sells a house for habitation 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 redeemed 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 25:30Lit go out revert in the jubilee.
31 The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be considered 25:31Lit according to as open fields; they have redemption rights and 25:31Lit go out revert in the jubilee.
32 As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.
33 What, therefore, 25:33Lit is from belongs to the Levites may be redeemed, and a house sale 25:33Lit and in the city of 25:33Lit his their possession 25:33Lit goes out reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.
34 But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession.Redemption Rights for Poor Brothers
35 ‘Now if a brother of yours becomes poor and his 25:35Lit hand means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a sojourner or a foreign resident, that he may live with you.
36 Do not take 25:36Lit interest and usury usurious interest from him, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 You shall not give him your silver at interest nor your food for gain.
38 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaanandto be your God.
39 ‘If a brother 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 if he were a foreign resident; 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 return to his family, that he may return to the possessionof the landof his fathers.
42 For they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they shall not be soldina slave sale.
43 You shall not have dominion over him with brutality, but you shall fear your God.
44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the nations that are around you.
45 And also you may acquire from the sons of the foreign residents who sojourn among you, from them and their families who are with you; as for those whom they have begotten in your land, they also may become your possession.
46 You may even give them as an inheritance to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your brothers, the sons of Israel, you shall not have dominion over one another with brutality.Kindness Toward a Poor Sojourner
47 ‘Now if the 25:47Lit hand...reaches means of a sojourner or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a brother of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a sojourner who resides with you or to the descendants of a sojourner’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 25:49Lit if his hand has reached and if 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 islike the days of a hired manthathe shall be with him.
51 If there are still many years, he shall return 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 shall returnthe amount forhis redemption.
53 Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not have dominion over him with brutality in your sight.
54 Even if he is not redeemed by 25:54Or these years thesemeans, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him.
55 For the sons of Israel are My slaves; they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.