The Seventh Year
Leviticus 25, verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, Leviticus 25, verse 2. “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Leviticus 25, verse 3. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit; Leviticus 25, verse 4. but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Leviticus 25, verse 5. What grows by itself in your field you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of the vines you dedicated, for it is a year of rest for the land. Leviticus 25, verse 6. So the products of the land during the Sabbath year shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the alien who dwells with you, Leviticus 25, verse 7. and for your cattle and the wild animals in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
The Year of Remission (Jubilee)
Leviticus 25, verse 8. ‘You shall also count seven years of rest for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Leviticus 25, verse 9. Then you shall sound the trumpet throughout your land on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. Leviticus 25, verse 10. Then you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim remission throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall signal the Year of Remission for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his homeland. Leviticus 25, verse 11. That fiftieth year shall be the Signal of Remission for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows by itself, nor gather its sanctified things. Leviticus 25, verse 12. For it is the Signal of Remission; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. Leviticus 25, verse 13. ‘In this Year of Remission, each shall return to his possession. Leviticus 25, verse 14. Also, if you should make a sale of land to your neighbor or buy it from him, let a man not oppress his neighbor. Leviticus 25, verse 15. According to the number of years after the Signal, you shall buy land tenure from your neighbor, and he shall sell tenure to you according to the number of years of crops. Leviticus 25, verse 16. According to the increase in years, his acquisition price for tenure should be increased, and according to the fewer number of years his price should be diminished; for he sells to you according to the number of the crops. Leviticus 25, verse 17. Therefore, let not a man oppress his neighbor, but you shall fear the Lord your God; for I am the Lord your God.
Food for the Seventh Year
Leviticus 25, verse 18. ‘So you shall do all My ordinances and keep My judgments, and do them; then you will dwell in the land in confidence. Leviticus 25, verse 19. Then the land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in confidence. Leviticus 25, verse 20. But if you should say, “What shall we eat in this seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Leviticus 25, verse 21. Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. Leviticus 25, verse 22. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat from the old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
Redemption of Property
Leviticus 25, verse 23. ‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; for in my sight you are resident aliens and sojourners. Leviticus 25, verse 24. According to all the land of your possession, you shall grant a ransom of the land. Leviticus 25, verse 25. If your brother with you becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and his closest relative comes, then he may redeem what his brother sold. Leviticus 25, verse 26. Or if the poor man has no close relative to redeem it, but he himself becomes prosperous enough to redeem it, Leviticus 25, verse 27. then let him compute the years since its sale and return the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. Leviticus 25, verse 28. But if he does not become prosperous enough to return to it himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Remission; and in the Remission it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession. Leviticus 25, verse 29. ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. Leviticus 25, verse 30. But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong legally to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Remission. Leviticus 25, verse 31. However, the houses of unwalled villages shall be counted as belonging to the open country. They may be redeemed and released at any time during the Remission. Leviticus 25, verse 32. Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. Leviticus 25, verse 33. Even whoever purchases a house from the Levites, the house that was sold in the city of their possession shall be released in the Remission; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. Leviticus 25, verse 34. But the fields set apart for their cities may not be sold, for this is their perpetual possession.
Lending to the Poor
Leviticus 25, verse 35. ‘If your brother becomes poor and weak in strength among you, then you shall help him, like a resident alien or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Leviticus 25, verse 36. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God—I am the Lord—that your brother may live with you. Leviticus 25, verse 37. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. Leviticus 25, verse 38. I am the Lord your God, who brings you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, so as to be your God.
Relating to Slaves
Leviticus 25, verse 39. ‘Now if your brother with you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. Leviticus 25, verse 40. But as a hired servant or a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall work for you until the Year of Remission. Leviticus 25, verse 41. Then in the Remission he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. Leviticus 25, verse 42. For they are My personal servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold with the sale of a household servant. Leviticus 25, verse 43. You shall not overwork him with labor, but you shall fear the Lord your God. Leviticus 25, verse 44. As for the male and female servants you may have from the Gentiles around you, from them you may buy male and female servants. Leviticus 25, verse 45. Moreover you may buy some of the children of sojourners dwelling among you, and some of their families with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your possession. Leviticus 25, verse 46. You may also distribute them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a permanent possession. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not overwork him with labor. Leviticus 25, verse 47. ‘Now if a resident alien or sojourner with you prospers, and your brother becomes poor and sells himself to the resident alien or sojourner with you, or to a member of the resident alien's family, Leviticus 25, verse 48. after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; Leviticus 25, verse 49. or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him; or anyone near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. Leviticus 25, verse 50. Thus he shall compute the years with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Remission; it shall be according to the time he was a hired servant for him. Leviticus 25, verse 51. If there are still more years remaining to someone, he shall pay his ransom from the money of his sale. Leviticus 25, verse 52. Now if there remain but a few years until the Year of Remission, then he shall compute with him, and according to his years, he shall repay his ransom. Leviticus 25, verse 53. He shall be with him as a hired servant year by year, and you shall not allow someone to overwork him with labor in your sight. Leviticus 25, verse 54. But if he is not redeemed in these years he shall be released in the Year of Remission—he and his children with him. Leviticus 25, verse 55. For the children of Israel are personal servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.