Leviticus 25 (NET)

Regulations for the Sabbatical Year

1 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath1 to the Lord. 3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce,2 4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest3 – a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or4 prune your vineyard. 5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned5 vines; the land must have a year of complete rest. 6 You may have the Sabbath produce6 of the land to eat – you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,7 7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land – all its produce will be for you8 to eat.

Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

8 “‘You must count off9 seven weeks of years, seven times seven years,10 and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years.11 9 You must sound loud horn blasts12 – in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement – you must sound the horn in your entire land. 10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year,13 and you must proclaim a release14 in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee;15 each one of you must return16 to his property and each one of you must return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines.17 12 Because that year is a jubilee, it will be holy to you – you may eat its produce18 from the field.

Release of Landed Property

13 “‘In this year of jubilee you must each return19 to your property. 14 If you make a sale20 to your fellow citizen21 or buy22 from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother.23 15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since24 the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left.25 16 The more years there are,26 the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are,27 the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of28 produce. 17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen,29 but you must fear your God, because I am the Lord your God. 18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them30 so that you may live securely in the land.31

19 “‘The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied,32 and you may live securely in the land. 20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’ 21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield33 the produce34 for three years, 22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s produce35 – old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce,36 you may eat old produce. 23 The land must not be sold without reclaim37 because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me.38 24 In all your landed property39 you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.40

25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.41 26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers42 and gains enough for its redemption,43 27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold,44 refund the balance45 to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 28 If he has not prospered enough to refund46 a balance to him, then what he sold47 will belong to48 the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert49 in the jubilee and the original owner50 may return to his property.

Release of Houses

29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city,51 its right of redemption must extend52 until one full year from its sale;53 its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year.54 30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended,55 the house in the walled city56 will belong without reclaim57 to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee. 31 The houses of villages, however,58 which have no wall surrounding them59 must be considered as the field60 of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee. 32 As for61 the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess,62 the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption. 33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee,63 because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. 34 Moreover,64 the open field areas of their cities65 must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

Debt and Slave Regulations

35 “‘If your brother66 becomes impoverished and is indebted to you,67 you must support68 him; he must live69 with you like a foreign resident.70 36 Do not take interest or profit from him,71 but you must fear your God and your brother must live72 with you. 37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.73 38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God.74

39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service.75 40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner;76 he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 41 but then77 he may go free,78 he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.79 42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.80 43 You must not rule over him harshly,81 but you must fear your God.

44 “‘As for your male and female slaves82 who may belong to you – you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.83 45 Also you may buy slaves84 from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are85 with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property. 46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.86

47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers87 and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that88 he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member89 of a foreigner’s family, 48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption.90 One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin91 may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his family92 – may redeem him, or if93 he prospers he may redeem himself. 50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years94 from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him.95 51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them96 he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, 52 but if only a few years remain97 until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption. 53 He must be with the one who bought him98 like a yearly hired worker.99 The one who bought him100 must not rule over him harshly in your sight. 54 If, however,101 he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free102 in the jubilee year, he and his children with him, 55 because the Israelites are my own servants;103 they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

1tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.” 2tn Heb “its produce,” but the feminine pronoun “its” probably refers to the “land” (a feminine noun in Hebrew; cf. v. 2), not the “field” or the “vineyard,” both of which are normally masculine nouns (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170). 3tn Heb “and in the seventh year a Sabbath of complete rest shall be to the land.” The expression “a Sabbath of complete rest” is superlative, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the seventh year of the sabbatical cycle. Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest”; NAB “a complete rest.” 4tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”). 5tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root. 6tn The word “produce” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied; cf. NASB “the sabbath products.” 7tn A “resident who stays” would be a foreign person who was probably residing as another kind of laborer in the household of a landowner (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71). See v. 35 below. 8tn The words “for you” are implied. 9tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.” 10tn Heb “seven years seven times.” 11tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.” 12sn On the “loud horn blasts” see the note on Lev 23:24, but unlike the language there, the Hebrew term for “horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar) actually appears here in this verse (twice). 13tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2). 14tn Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “liberty”; TEV, CEV “freedom.” The characteristics of this “release” are detailed in the following verses. For substantial summaries and bibliography on the biblical and ancient Near Eastern material regarding such a “release” see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 427-34, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 270-74. 15tn Heb “A jubilee that shall be to you.” Although there has been some significant debate about the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated “jubilee” (יוֹבֵל, yovel; see the summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 434), the term most likely means “ram” and can refer also to a “ram’s horn.” The fiftieth year would, therefore, be called the “jubilee” because of the associated sounding of the “ram’s horn” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 172, and the literature cited there). 16tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.” 17tn Heb “you shall not sow and you shall not…and you shall not….”sn See v. 5 above and the notes there. 18tn That is, the produce of the land (fem.; cf. v. 7 above). 19tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.” 20tn Heb “sell a sale.” 21tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.” 22tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z). 23tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite. 24tn Heb “in the number of years after.” 25tn The words “that are left” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.sn The purchaser is actually buying only the crops that the land will produce until the next jubilee, since the land will revert to the original owner at that time. The purchaser, therefore, is not actually buying the land itself. 26tn Heb “To the mouth of the many years.” 27tn Heb “to the mouth of the few years.” 28tn Heb “a number of produce”; the words “years of” are implied. As an alternative this could be translated “a number of harvests” (cf. NRSV, NLT). 29tn Heb “And you shall not oppress a man his fellow citizen.” 30tn Heb “And you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8, etc.). 31tn Heb “and you shall dwell on the land to security.” 32tn Heb “eat to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV “ye shall eat your fill.” 33tn Heb “and it [i.e., the land] shall make the produce.” The Hebrew term וְעָשָׂת (vÿ’asat, “and it shall make”) is probably an older third feminine singular form of the verb (GKC 210 §75.m). Smr has the normal form. 34tn Smr and LXX have “its produce” (cf. 25:3, 7, etc.) rather than “the produce.” 35tn Heb “the produce,” referring to “the produce” of the sixth year of v. 21. The words “sixth year” are supplied for clarity. 36tn Heb “until the ninth year, until bringing [in] its produce.” 37tn The term rendered “without reclaim” means that the land has been bought for the full price and is, therefore, not subject to reclaim under any circumstances. This was not to be done with land in ancient Israel (contrast the final full sale of houses in v. 30; see the evidence cited in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 174). 38tn That is, the Israelites were strangers and residents who were attached to the Lord’s household. They did not own the land. Note the parallel to the “priest’s lodger” in Lev 22:10. 39tn Heb “And in all the land of your property.” 40tn Heb “right of redemption you shall give to the land”; NAB “you must permit the land to be redeemed.” 41tn Heb “the sale of his brother.” 42tn Heb “and his hand reaches.” 43tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.” 44tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.” 45tn Heb “and return the excess.” 46tn Heb “And if his hand has not found sufficiency of returning.” Although some versions take this to mean that he has not made enough to regain the land (e.g., NASB, NRSV; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176), the combination of terms in Hebrew corresponds to the portion of v. 27 that refers specifically to refunding the money (cf. v. 27; see NIV and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 315). 47tn Heb “his sale.” 48tn Heb “will be in the hand of.” This refers to the temporary control of the one who purchased its produce until the next year of jubilee, at which time it would revert to the original owner. 49tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176). 50tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 51tn Heb “a house of a residence of a walled city.” 52tn Heb “shall be.” 53tn Heb “of its sale.” 54tn Heb “days its right of redemption shall be” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176). 55tn Heb “until fulfilling to it a complete year.’ 56tn Heb “the house which [is] in the city which to it [is] a wall.” The Kethib has לֹא (lo’, “no, not”) rather than לוֹ (lo, “to it”) which is the Qere. 57tn See the note on v. 23 above. 58tn Heb “And the houses of the villages.” 59tn Heb “which there is not to them a wall.” 60tn Heb “on the field.” 61tn Heb “And.” 62tn Heb “the houses of the cities of their property.” 63tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view. 64tn Heb “And.” 65sn This refers to the region of fields just outside and surrounding the city where cattle were kept and garden crops were grown (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). 66tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”). 67tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.” 68tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.” 69tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5). 70tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71). 71tn The meaning of the terms rendered “interest” and “profit” is much debated (see the summaries in P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 354-55 and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 178). Verse 37, however, suggests that the first refers to a percentage of money and the second percentage of produce (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 421). 72tn In form the Hebrew term וְחֵי (vÿkhey, “shall live”) is the construct plural noun (i.e., “the life of”), but here it is used as the finite verb (cf. v. 35 and GKC 218 §76.i). 73tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above. 74tn Heb “to be to you for a God.” 75tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant. 76tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above. 77tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here. 78tn Heb “may go out from you.” 79tn Heb “fathers.” 80tn Or perhaps reflexive Niphal rather than passive, “they shall not sell themselves [as in] a slave sale.” 81tn Heb “You shall not rule in him in violence”; cf. NASB “with severity”; NIV “ruthlessly.” 82tn Heb “And your male slave and your female slave.” Smr has these as plural terms, “slaves,” not singular. 83tn Heb “ from the nations which surround you, from them you shall buy male slave and female slave.” 84tn The word “slaves” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied here. 85tn Heb “family which is” (i.e., singular rather than plural). 86tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.” 87tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom). 88tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here. 89tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.” 90tn Heb “right of redemption shall be to him.” 91tn Heb “the son of his uncle.” 92tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.” 93tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT. 94tn Heb “the years.” 95tn Heb “as days of a hired worker he shall be with him.” For this and the following verses see the explanation in P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 358-59. 96tn Heb “to the mouth of them.” 97tn Heb “but if a little remains in the years.” 98tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 99tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.” 100tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 101tn Heb “And if.” 102tn Heb “go out.” 103tn Heb “because to me the sons of Israel are servants.”