Leviticus, 25

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

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

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. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto 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 thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

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 shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy 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. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: [for] it is a year of rest unto 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. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

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

7. And for thy cattle, and for the beast that [are] in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

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 thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and 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 shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound 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 ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto 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 jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of thy vine undressed.

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

12. For it [is] the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

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

13. In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

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

14. And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest [ought] of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress 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 jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:

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. According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for [according] to the number [of the years] of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.

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

17. Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy 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. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

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

19. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

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 ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

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

21. Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall 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. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat [yet] of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat [of] the old [store].

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 for ever: for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me.

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

24. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for 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 thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

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

26. And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able 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. Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.

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 be not able to restore [it] to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

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. And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; [within] a full year may he redeem it.

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. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that [is] in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.

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 round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.

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. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, [and] the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites 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 a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in [the year of] jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites [are] their possession among the children of Israel.

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

34. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it [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 thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: [yea, though he be] a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.

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

36. Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

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

37. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

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, which 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 thy brother [that dwelleth] by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:

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

40. [But] as an hired servant, [and] as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, [and] shall serve thee unto the year of jubile:

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

41. And [then] shall he depart from thee, [both] he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.

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, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

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

43. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy 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. Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, [shall be] of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

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. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that [are] with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.

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. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit [them for] a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

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. And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger [or] sojourner by thee, or to the stock 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. After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren 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. Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or [any] that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, 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. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.

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 be] yet many years [behind], according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

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. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, [and] according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.

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

53. [And] as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: [and the other] shall not rule with rigour over him in thy 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 be not redeemed in these [years], then he shall go out in the year of jubile, [both] 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 unto me the children of Israel [are] servants; they [are] my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.