Chapters

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  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
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  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
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  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27

Old Testament

New Testament

Leviticus 25 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

The Sabbath Year

1. Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,

2. “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land that I am about to give to you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh.

3. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield.

4. But in the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath for Yahweh; you must not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard.

5. You must not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines—it shall be a year of complete rest for the land.

6. And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for you and for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residents who are dwelling as aliens with you;

7. and all its yield shall be for your domestic animal and for the wild animal, which are in your land to eat.

The Year of Jubilee

8. “ ‘And you shall count for yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and they shall be for you time periods of years: forty-nine years.

9. And you shall cause a loud horn blast to be heard on the seventh month on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Atonement you shall cause a ram’s horn to be heard in all your land.

10. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. It is a Jubilee; it shall be for you, and you shall return. You must return—everyone to his property and everyone to his clan.

11. You shall have the fiftieth year as a Jubilee; you must not reap its aftergrowth, and you must not harvest its unpruned vines.

12. Because it is a Jubilee, it shall be holy to you. You must eat its produce from the field.

13. “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

14. And when you sell something to your fellow citizen or you buy from your neighbor’s hand, you must not oppress one another.

15. You must buy from your fellow citizen according to the number of years after the Jubilee; he must sell to you according to the number of years of yield.

16. You must increase its price according to a greater number of years, but you must decrease its price according to a lesser number of years, because he is selling its yields to you.

17. And you must not oppress one another, but you shall revere your God, because I am Yahweh, your God.

18. “ ‘And you shall do my statutes, and you must keep my regulations, and you shall do them, so that you shall live securely on the land.

19. And the land shall give its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and you shall live securely on it.

20. And if you should say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow and we do not gather its yield?”

21. then I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will make the yield for three years.

22. And you will sow in the eighth year, and you shall eat from the old yield; until the ninth year, until the coming of its yield, you shall eat the old yield.

23. “ ‘But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land is mine, because you are aliens and temporary residents with me.

24. And in all your property’s land you must provide redemption for the land.

25. “ ‘When your brother becomes poor and he sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come, and he shall redeem the thing sold by his brother.

26. But if a man does not have a redeemer, then he prospers and he finds enough for his redemption,

27. then he shall calculate the years of its selling, and he shall refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his property.

28. But if his hand does not find enough to refund to him, then what he has sold shall be in the buyer’s hand until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee, and he shall return to his property.

29. “ ‘And if a man sells a residential house in a walled city, then it shall be his redemption until completing a year after his selling; its redemption shall last a year.

30. But if it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, then the house that is in the walled city shall belong to the buyer in perpetuity throughout his generations; it shall not go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee.

31. However, village houses that have no surrounding wall shall be considered open country; there is redemption for it, and in the Jubilee it shall go out of the buyer’s hand.

32. “ ‘As for the cities of the Levites, that is, the houses in their property’s cities, it shall be a lasting redemption for the Levites.

33. And whatever anyone redeems from the Levites then must go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee, including a house’s selling in his city’s property, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

34. But a field of their cities’ pastureland must not be sold, because it is their property for all time.

35. “ ‘And if your countryman becomes poor and if he becomes dependent on you, then you shall support him like an alien and like a temporary resident, and he shall live with you.

36. You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you.

37. You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit.

38. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, to be as God for you.

39. “ ‘And if your countryman who is with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, you shall not treat him as a slave.

40. He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a temporary resident; he shall work with you until the Year of Jubilee.

41. And he and his sons with him shall go out from you, and he shall return to his clan, and to the property of his ancestors he shall return.

42. Because they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold as a slave.

43. You shall not rule over him with ruthlessness, but you shall revere your God.

44. “ ‘As for your slave and your slave woman who are yours, from the nations that are all around you, from them you may buy a slave or a slave woman.

45. And you may buy also from the children of the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed, they may be as property for you.

46. And you may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you to take possession of as property for all time—you may let them work. But as for your countrymen, the Israelites, you shall not rule with ruthlessness over one another.

47. “ ‘And if the alien or the temporary resident who are with you prosper, but your countryman who is with him becomes poor and he is sold to an alien, a temporary resident who is with you, or to a descendant of an alien’s clan,

48. after he is sold redemption shall be for him; one of his brothers may redeem him,

49. or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

50. And he shall calculate with his buyer from the year of his selling himself until the Jubilee; and the value of his selling shall be according to the number of years—it shall be with him like a hired worker’s days.

51. If there are still many years, in keeping with them he shall restore his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

52. And if there are a few years left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate for himself; he shall restore his redemption according to the number of his years.

53. He shall be with him as a yearly hired worker; he shall not rule over him with ruthlessness in your sight.

54. And if he is not redeemed by any of these ways, then he and his sons with him shall go out in the Year of Jubilee.

55. Indeed, the Israelites are servants for me; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’ ”