1 T he Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,

2 S ay to the Israelites, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the Lord.

“Say to the people of Israel, ‘When you come to the land I will give you, then the land will have a Year of Rest to the Lord.

3 F or six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.

Six years you will plant seeds in your field. Six years you will take care of your vines and gather their fruit.

4 B ut in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

But the seventh year will be a Year of Rest for the land, a Year of Rest to the Lord. You will not plant seeds in your field or take care of your vines.

5 W hat grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap and the grapes on your uncultivated vine you shall not gather, for it is a year of rest to the land.

You will not gather what grows of itself in your field. And do not gather the fruit of the vines that have not been cared for. The land will have a Year of Rest.

6 A nd the sabbath rest of the land shall furnish food for you, for your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the temporary resident who lives with you,

During the Year of Rest the land will give food for you, for your men and women servants, the man you pay to work for you, and the stranger who lives with you.

7 F or your domestic animals also and for the beasts in your land; all its yield shall be for food.

Even your cattle and the animals in your land will have food to eat. The Fiftieth Year

8 A nd you shall number seven sabbaths or weeks of years for you, seven times seven years, so the total time of the seven weeks of years shall be forty-nine years.

‘You are to number seven Years of Rest for yourself, seven times seven years. The time of the seven Years of Rest will be forty-nine years.

9 T hen you shall sound abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement blow the trumpet in all your land.

Then let the horn be heard on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day to be made free from sin you will let a horn be heard all through your land.

10 A nd you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his ancestral possession, and each of you shall return to his family.

You will honor the fiftieth year as holy. And let it be known in all the land that all who are living there are free. It will be a happy time for you. Each of you will return to what is his. Each will return to his family.

11 T hat fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall not sow, or reap and store what grows of itself, or gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines.

That fiftieth year will be a happy time for you. You will not plant seeds in the field, or gather the food that grows of itself, or gather fruit from the vines that are not cared for.

12 F or it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat the increase of it out of the field.

This is a happy time. It will be holy to you. You will eat from what the field gives.

13 I n this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his ancestral property.

‘In this Year of Jubilee each one will have what was his.

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

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

15 A ccording to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor. And he shall sell to you according to the number of years the crops.

You will pay your neighbor by the number of years since the Year of Jubilee. And he will sell to you by the number of years the food may be gathered.

16 I f the years are many, you may increase the price, and if the years remaining are few, you shall diminish the price, for the number of the crops is what he is selling to you.

You will make the price more if there are many years, and make the price less if there are few years. For he is selling you the food that is gathered each year.

17 Y ou shall not oppress and wrong one another, but you shall fear your God. For I am the Lord your God.

Do not do wrong to one another, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. The Seventh Year

18 T herefore you shall do and give effect to My statutes and keep My ordinances and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety.

‘So keep My Laws and do what I say, and you will be safe living in the land.

19 T he land shall yield its fruit; you shall eat your fill and dwell there in safety.

Then the land will give its food, so you can eat all you want and be safe living there.

20 A nd if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year if we are not to sow or gather in our increase?

If you say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant seeds or gather in the food of our field?”

21 T hen I will command My blessings on you in the sixth year, so that it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

I will let My good come upon you in the sixth year, so it will give you enough food for three years.

22 A nd you shall sow in the eighth year, but eat of the old store of produce; until the crops of the ninth year come in you shall eat of the old supply.

When you are planting seeds in the eighth year, you can still eat from the old store of food. You can eat the old food until the food of the ninth year is gathered.

23 T he land shall not be sold into perpetual ownership, for the land is Mine; you are strangers and temporary residents with Me.

‘The land will not be sold to be kept forever. For the land is Mine. You are only strangers staying with Me.

24 A nd in all the country you possess you shall grant a redemption for the land.

For all the land you have, you must be willing to let it go.

25 I f your brother has become poor and has sold some of his property, if any of his kin comes to redeem it, he shall redeem what his brother has sold.

When your brother becomes poor and sells some of his land, then one in his family who is near to him is to come and buy what his brother has sold.

26 A nd if the man has no one to redeem his property, and he himself has become more prosperous and has enough to redeem it,

But a man may have no one to buy his land, and he himself may become able to buy it again.

27 T hen let him count the years since he sold it and restore the overpayment to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his ancestral possession.

Then he should add up the years since he sold it, and pay what is left of the price to the man to whom he sold it. So he will return to his own land.

28 B ut if he is unable to redeem it, it shall remain in the buyer’s possession until the Year of Jubilee, when it shall be set free and he may return to it.

But if he is not able to buy it again for himself, then what he has sold will belong to the one who bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Year of Jubilee it will be let go and he may return to it.

29 I f a man sells a dwelling house in a fortified city, he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year he may have the right of redemption.

‘If a man sells a house within the walls of a city, he has the right to buy it back for a whole year from the time he sold it. He can buy it during that year.

30 A nd if it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house that is in the fortified city shall be made sure, permanently and without limitations, for him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go free in the Year of Jubilee.

But if it is not bought back again for him within a whole year, then the house within the city walls belongs forever to the family of the one who bought it. It will not be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee.

31 B ut the houses of the unwalled villages shall be counted with the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go free in the Year of Jubilee.

But houses in towns that have no walls will be thought of as open fields. They may be let go, and will be returned in the Year of Jubilee.

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

The houses in the cities of the Levites may be returned to the Levites at any time.

33 B ut if a house is not redeemed by a Levite, the sold house in the city they possess shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their ancestral possession among the Israelites.

If a house is not bought again by a Levite, then the house that was sold in one of their cities will be returned to him in the Year of Jubilee. For the houses of the Levites belong to them among the people of Israel.

34 B ut the field of unenclosed or pasture lands of their cities may not be sold; it is their perpetual possession.

But the open field of their cities must not be sold. It belongs to them forever. The Poor Paying Money Back

35 A nd if your brother has become poor and his hand wavers, then you shall uphold (strengthen, relieve) him, a stranger or a temporary resident with you, so that he may live with you.

‘If your brother becomes poor and is not able to pay you what he owes, then you should help him as you would help a stranger or visitor. So he may live with you.

36 C harge him no interest or increase, but fear your God, so your brother may live along with you.

Do not make him pay for the use of the money he owes you. But fear your God, so your brother may live with you.

37 Y ou shall not give him your money at interest nor lend him food at a profit.

Do not make him pay for the use of your money or your food.

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.

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. About Servants and Workmen

39 A nd if your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondman (a slave not eligible for redemption),

‘If your brother becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, do not make him work as a servant.

40 B ut as a hired servant and as a temporary resident he shall be with you; he shall serve you till the Year of Jubilee,

He will be as a man who is paid to work for you, as one who is traveling from place to place, until the Year of Jubilee.

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

Then he will leave you, he and his children, that he may return to the land of his fathers.

42 F or the Israelites are My servants; I brought them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.

For I brought them out of the land of Egypt as My servants. They are not to be sold as a servant.

43 Y ou shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression), but you shall fear your God.

Do not make it hard for him, but fear your God.

44 A s for your bondmen and your bondmaids whom you may have, they shall be from the nations round about you, of whom you may buy bondmen and bondmaids.

Those men and women you may have who are sold as servants will be from the nations around you.

45 M oreover, of the children of the strangers who sojourn among you, of them you may buy and of their families that are with you which they have begotten in your land, and they shall be your possession.

You may buy from among the children of the strangers who live among you, and from their families that are with you and were born in your land. You may own them.

46 A nd you shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall you take your bondmen always, but over your brethren the Israelites you shall not rule one over another with harshness (severity, oppression).

You may give them to your children after you, to receive as their own. You can have them as servants forever. But do not make it hard for your brothers, the people of Israel.

47 A nd if a sojourner or stranger with you becomes rich and your brother becomes poor beside him and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s family,

‘Now a stranger or one visiting you may become rich. And your brother may become so poor that he sells himself to a stranger living among you, or to the children of a stranger’s family.

48 A fter he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brethren may redeem him:

Then he may be made free after he has been sold. One of his brothers may pay the price to free him.

49 E ither his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or a near kinsman may redeem him; or if he has enough and is able, he may redeem himself.

His father’s brother, the son of his father’s brother, or one of his own family may pay the price to free him. Or if he becomes rich he may pay the price himself.

50 A nd shall reckon with the purchaser of the servant from the year when he sold himself to the purchaser to the Year of Jubilee, and the price of his release shall be adjusted according to the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be counted as that of a hired servant.

With the one who bought him he will add the years from the year he sold himself until the Year of Jubilee. The price for him to be set free will be decided upon by the number of years. The time he was with the man who owned him will be as that of a man paid to work for him.

51 I f there remain many years, in proportion to them he must refund for his release for his acquisition.

If there are still many years, he will return a part of the price which was given for him.

52 A nd if little time remains until the Year of Jubilee, he shall count it over with him and he shall refund the proportionate amount for his release.

If there is only a few years until the Year of Jubilee, he will decide upon the amount of money with his owner. He should pay the price to be set free, decided upon by the number of years.

53 A nd as a servant hired year by year shall he deal with him; he shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression) in your sight.

He will be like a man paid to work for him year by year. Make sure his owner does not make it hard for him.

54 A nd if he is not redeemed during these years and by these means, then he shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.

Even if the price is not paid for him in this way, he will go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children.

55 F or to Me the Israelites are servants, My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Because the people of Israel are My servants. They are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.