The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus

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- Chapter 25 -

(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

And the Lord spoke to Moses on mount Sinai, saying:

Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you will have entered into the land which I will give to you, rest on the Sabbath of the Lord.(a)

For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall care for your vineyard, and you shall gather its fruits.

But in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath of the land, a resting of the Lord. You shall not sow your field, and you shall not care for your vineyard.

What the soil shall spontaneously produce, you shall not harvest. And you shall not gather the grapes of the first-fruits as a crop. For it is a year of rest for the land.

But these shall be yours for food, for you and for your men and women servants, and for your hired hands, and for the newcomers who sojourn with you:

all that grows on its own shall provide food for your beasts and cattle.

The Year of Jubilee

You shall also number for yourselves seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven, which together makes forty-nine years.

And you shall sound the trumpet in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, at the time of the atonement, throughout all your land.

And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim a remission for all the inhabitants of your land: for the same is the Jubilee. A man shall return to his possession, and each one shall go back to his original family,(b)

(c)

for it is the Jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, and you shall not reap what grows in the field of its own accord, and you shall not gather the first-fruits of the crop,

due to the sanctification of the Jubilee. But you shall eat them as they present themselves.(d)

Return of Property

In the year of the Jubilee, all shall return to their possessions.

When you will sell anything to your fellow citizen, or buy anything from him, do not cause your brother grief, but buy from him according to the number of years from the Jubilee,

and he shall sell to you according to the computation of the produce.

The more years that will remain after the Jubilee, the more the price shall increase, and the less the time is numbered, so much less shall the purchase price be. For he will sell to you the time for the produce.

Do not be willing to afflict your countrymen, but let each one fear his God. For I am the Lord your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

Accomplish my precepts, and observe my judgments, and complete them, so that you may be able to live in the land without any fear,

and so that the soil may produce its fruits for you, from which you may eat, even to fullness, dreading violence by no one.

But if you will say: What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow and do not gather our produce?

I will give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it shall yield the produce of three years.

And in the eighth year you shall sow, but you shall eat from the old produce, until the ninth year, until what is new matures, you shall eat what is old.(e)

The Law of Redemption

Also, the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for it is mine, and you are newcomers and settlers to me.

Therefore, every region of your possession shall be sold under the condition of redemption.

If your brother, being in need, will have sold his little possession and his close relative is willing, he is able to redeem what he had sold.

But if he has no near relative, and he himself is able to find the price to redeem it,

the produce shall be calculated from that time when he sold it. And what is lacking, he shall repay to the buyer, and so he shall receive his possession.

But if his hand will not have discovered a way to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the Jubilee. For in that year all that has been sold shall return to the owner, and to the original possessor.

Whoever will have sold a house within the walls of a city shall have the freedom to redeem it, until one year has been completed.

If he has not redeemed it, and the year will have turned full circle, the buyer and his posterity shall possess it, in perpetuity, and it is not able to be redeemed, even in the Jubilee.

But if the house is in a village, which has no walls, it shall be sold by the law of the fields. If it has not been redeemed beforehand, then in the Jubilee it shall return to the owner.

The buildings of the Levites, which are in the cities, are always able to be redeemed.

If they have not been redeemed, then in the Jubilee they shall return to the owners, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possession among the sons of Israel.

But let not their suburbs be sold, for it is an everlasting possession.

Redemption of the Poor

If your brother has become impoverished, or infirm of hand, and you take him in, like a newcomer or a sojourner, and he lives with you,

do not accept usury from him, nor anything more than what you gave. Fear your God, so that your brother may be able to live with you.

You shall not give him your money by usury, nor exact from him an overabundance of produce.

I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, so that I might give to you the land of Canaan, and so that I may be your God.

Redemption of Bondmen

If your brother, having been compelled by poverty, will have sold himself to you, you shall not oppress him with the servitude of indentured servants.

But he shall be like a hired hand or a settler; he shall work with you, until the year of the Jubilee.

And after that, he shall depart with his children, and he shall return to his kindred, to the possession of his fathers.

For these are my servants, and I led them away from the land of Egypt; let them not be sold into the condition of servitude.

Do not afflict him by power, but be fearful of your God.

Let your male and female servants be from the nations which are all around you,

and from the newcomers who sojourn with you, or who have been born from them in your land. These you shall have as servants,

and, by the right of inheritance, you shall transmit them to your posterity, and you shall possess them forever. But do not oppress your brothers, the sons of Israel, by power.

Redemption of Servants

If the hand of a newcomer or a sojourner will have grown strong among you, and your brother, having become impoverished, will have sold himself to him, or to any of his stock,

after the sale, he is able to be redeemed. Whoever is willing among his brothers shall redeem him:

either the paternal uncle, or the paternal uncle’s son, or his close relative, by blood or by affinity. But if he himself will be able also, he shall redeem himself,

considering only the years from the time of his selling until the year of the Jubilee, and calculating the money for which he was sold, according to the number of years and the accounting of a hired hand.

If there will have been many years which remain until the Jubilee, according to these shall he also repay the price.

If few, he shall determine the accounting with him according to the number of years, and he shall repay to the buyer by what is left remaining of the years;

his wages being charged by what served before. He shall not afflict him violently in your sight.

But if, by these means, he will not be able to be redeemed, then in the year of the Jubilee he shall depart with his children.

For they are my servants, the sons of Israel, whom I led away from the land of Egypt.

Footnotes

(a)25:2 The Hebrew word Shabbat (Shin-Bet-Tav) means to rest; so the Latin expression ‘sabbatizes sabbatum’ means to rest on the Sabbath.(Conte)

(b)25:10 The Sabbatical years began in springtime, but the Jubilee year began in autumn, so it overlapped the 49th and Sabbatical year and the 50th year, which was also the first year in the next cycle of years.(Conte)

(c)25:10 Remission:That is, a general release and discharge from debts and bondage, and a reinstating of every man in his former possessions.(Challoner)

(d)25:12 The word ‘statim’ does not always mean ‘immediately’, but often has more of the meaning of ‘in the present time’.(Conte)

(e)25:22 The Sabbatical year, in the times before Herod the great captured Jerusalem, was counted from spring to spring, not from fall to fall, as the Jews today count it. The Jews could plant in the fall of year 6; they could not harvest the following spring, because year 7, the Sabbatical year, had begun. But there would be a full crop in the field from the previous fall’s planting. Then, in the fall of year 7, the crop would self-sow, producing a full crop for harvest in year 8, that is, in year 1 of the next cycle of seven years. But the Jubilee year began in the fall, that is, in the fall of year 7. So the following spring, in year 8, they still could not harvest the crop, but again they could eat from the field what had self-sown the previous fall. Then in the fall of year 8 the Jubilee year would be over, since it began in the fall of the previous year, overlapping with the end of the Sabbatical year. That is why they could then plant in the fall of year 8, because the Jubilee year was over. After the Jews changed the count of the Sabbatical years to the fall, they began to suffer from famine during Sabbatical and Jubilee years because the crops no longer self-sowed and the time for refraining from sowing and planting became extended to 2 full years, from one full Sabbatical year and one overlapping Jubilee year.(Conte)

(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD.

You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;

but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.

For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

“‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.

Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.

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

Return of Property

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

“‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.

According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.

You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

“‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;”

then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.

You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits from the old store until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.

The Law of Redemption

“‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.

In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

“‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.

If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,

then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

“‘If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

If it isn’t redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

“‘Nevertheless, in the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses in the cities of their possession at any time.

The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Redemption of the Poor

“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.

You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

I 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.

Redemption of Bondmen

“‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee.

Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.

For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.

You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

“‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.

Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.

You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

Redemption of Servants

“‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,

after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;

or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.

He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.

If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.

As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee: he and his children with him.

For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.