Leviticus, 25

1. Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and said:

1. The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

2. 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: "When you enter the country which I am giving you, the land must keep a Sabbath's rest for Yahweh.

2. "Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you, the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD.

3. For six years you will sow your field, for six years you will prune your vineyard and gather its produce.

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

4. But in the seventh year the land will have a sabbatical rest, a Sabbath for Yahweh. You will neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard,

4. 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.

5. nor reap any grain which has grown of its own accord, nor gather the grapes from your untrimmed vine. It will be a year of rest for the land.

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

6. But what the land produces in its Sabbath will serve to feed you, your slave, male or female, your employee and your guest residing with you;

6. The sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you;

7. for your cattle too, and the wild animals of your country, whatever it produces will serve as food.

7. for your cattle also and for the beasts that are in your land all its yield shall be for food.

8. "You will count seven weeks of years -- seven times seven years, that is to say a period of seven weeks of years, forty-nine years.

8. "And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years.

9. And on the tenth day of the seventh month you will sound the trumpet; on the Day of Expiation you will sound the trumpet throughout the land.

9. Then you shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.

10. You will declare this fiftieth year to be sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the country's inhabitants. You will keep this as a jubilee: each of you will return to his ancestral property, each to his own clan.

10. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family.

11. This fiftieth year will be a jubilee year for you; in it you will not sow, you will not harvest the grain that has come up on its own or in it gather grapes from your untrimmed vine.

11. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you; in it you shall neither sow, nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines.

12. The jubilee will be a holy thing for you; during it you will eat whatever the fields produce.

12. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat what it yields out of the field.

13. "In this year of jubilee, each of you will return to his ancestral property.

13. "In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

14. If you buy land from, or sell land to, your fellow-countryman, neither of you may exploit the other.

14. And if you sell to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

15. In buying from your fellow-countryman, you will take account of the number of years since the jubilee; the sale-price he fixes for you will depend on the number of productive years still to run.

15. According to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years for crops he shall sell to you.

16. The greater the number of years, the higher the price you will ask for it; the fewer the number of years, the greater the reduction; for what he is selling you is a certain number of harvests.

16. If the years are many you shall increase the price, and if the years are few you shall diminish the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you.

17. So you will not exploit one another, but fear your God, for I am Yahweh your God.

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

18. "Hence, you will put my laws and customs into practice; you will keep them and put them into practice, and you will live securely in the country.

18. "Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and perform them; so you will dwell in the land securely.

19. The land will give its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live in security.

19. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell in it securely.

20. "In case you should ask: What shall we eat in this seventh year if we do not sow or harvest our produce?

20. And if you say, `What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?'

21. I shall order my blessing to be on you in the sixth year, which will yield you enough produce for three years.

21. I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that it will bring forth fruit for three years.

22. You will have the old produce to eat while you are sowing in the eighth year, and even in the ninth year, you will be eating the old produce, while waiting for the harvest of that year.

22. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating old produce; until the ninth year, when its produce comes in, you shall eat the old.

23. "Land will not be sold absolutely, for the land belongs to me, and you are only strangers and guests of mine.

23. The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.

24. You will allow a right of redemption over any ancestral property.

24. And in all the country you possess, you shall grant a redemption of the land.

25. If your brother becomes impoverished and sells off part of his ancestral property, his nearest male relative will come and exercise his family rights over what his brother has sold.

25. "If your brother becomes poor, and sells part of his property, then his next of kin shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.

26. The man who has no one to exercise this right may, once he has found the means to effect the redemption,

26. If a man has no one to redeem it, and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,

27. calculate the number of years that the alienation would have lasted, repay to the purchaser the sum due for the time still to run, and so recover his ancestral property.

27. let him reckon the years since he sold it and pay back the overpayment to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

28. If he cannot find the sum in compensation, the property sold will remain in the possession of the purchaser until the jubilee year. In the jubilee year, the latter will vacate it and return to his own ancestral property.

28. But if he has not sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the year of jubilee; in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

29. "If anyone sells a dwelling house inside a walled town, he will have the right of redemption until the expiry of the year following the sale. His right of redemption is limited to the year;

29. "If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a whole year after its sale; for a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

30. and if the redemption has not been effected by the end of the year, the house in the walled town will become the property of the purchaser and his descendants in perpetuity; he need not vacate it at the jubilee.

30. If it is not redeemed within 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.

31. But houses in villages not enclosed by walls will be considered as situated in the open country; they carry the right of redemption, and the purchaser will vacate them at the jubilee.

31. But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the jubilee.

32. "As regards the towns of the Levites, town houses forming part of their ancestral property will carry a perpetual right of redemption in their favour.

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

33. If a Levite is the one to be affected by the right of redemption, at the jubilee he will vacate the purchased property and return to his own home, to the town in which he has a title to property. The houses in the Levites' towns represent their ancestral property in Israel,

33. And if one of the Levites does not exercise his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city of their possession shall be released in the jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel.

34. and the arable land depending on these towns cannot be sold, being their ancestral property for ever.

34. But the fields of common land belonging to their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.

35. "If your brother becomes impoverished and cannot support himself in the community, you will assist him as you would a stranger or guest, so that he can go on living with you.

35. "And if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall maintain him; as a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you.

36. Do not charge him interest on a loan, but fear your God, and let your brother live with you.

36. Take no interest from him or increase, but fear your God; that your brother may live beside you.

37. You will not lend him money on interest or give him food to make a profit out of it.

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

38. I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and be your God.

38. I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

39. "If your brother becomes impoverished while with you and sells himself to you, you will not make him do the work of a slave;

39. "And if your brother becomes poor beside you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave:

40. you will treat him like an employee or guest, and he will work for you until the jubilee year.

40. he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee;

41. He will then leave you, both he and his children, and return to his clan and regain possession of his ancestral property.

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

42. For they are my servants whom I have brought out of Egypt, and they may not be bought and sold as slaves.

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

43. You will not oppress your brother-Israelites harshly but will fear your God.

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

44. "The male and female slaves you have will come from the nations round you; from these you may purchase male and female slaves.

44. As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you.

45. As slaves, you may also purchase the children of aliens resident among you, and also members of their families living with you who have been born on your soil; and they will become your property,

45. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property.

46. and you may leave them as a legacy to your sons after you as their perpetual possession. These you may have for slaves; but you will not oppress your brother-Israelites.

46. You may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a possession for ever; you may make slaves of them, but over your brethren the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

47. "If a stranger or guest living with you gets rich and your brother, in the course of dealings with him, becomes impoverished and sells himself to this stranger or guest, or to the descendant of a stranger's family,

47. "If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger's family,

48. he will enjoy the right of redemption after being sold, and one of his brothers may redeem him.

48. then after he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brothers may redeem him,

49. His paternal uncle, his uncle's son, or a member of his own family may redeem him; if he has the means, he may redeem himself.

49. or his uncle, or his cousin may redeem him, or a near kinsman belonging to his family may redeem him; or if he grows rich he may redeem himself.

50. By agreement with his purchaser, he will count the number of years between the year of sale and the jubilee year; his sale-price will be proportionate to the number of years, his time being valued as that of an employee.

50. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his release shall be according to the number of years; the time he was with his owner shall be rated as the time of a hired servant.

51. If there are still many years to run, in proportion to their number he will refund part of his sale-price as payment for his redemption.

51. If there are still many years, according to them he shall refund out of the price paid for him the price for his redemption.

52. And if there are only a few years still to run before the jubilee year, he will calculate with him what should be refunded for his redemption, in proportion to their number,

52. If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall make a reckoning with him; according to the years of service due from him he shall refund the money for his redemption.

53. as though he were hired by the year. You will see to it that he is not harshly oppressed.

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

54. "If he has not been redeemed in any of these ways, he will go free in the jubilee year, both he and his children;

54. And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the year of jubilee, he and his children with him.

55. for the Israelites are my servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God." '

55. For to me the people of Israel are servants, they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.