1 T he Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,

The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying,

2 “ 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.

“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord.

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

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop,

4 B ut 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.

but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

5 Y ou 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.

Your harvest’s aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.

6 D uring 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.

All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you.

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

Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.

8 ‘ 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.

‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.

9 T hen 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.

You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land.

10 Y ou 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.

You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

11 T hat 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.

You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.

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

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

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

‘ On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property.

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

If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend’s hand, you shall not wrong one another.

15 Y ou 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.

Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.

16 Y ou 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.

In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you.

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

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

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

‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land.

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

Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it.

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

But if you say, “ What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?”

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

then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years.

22 W hen 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.

When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in. The Law of Redemption

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

‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

24 F or all the land you have, you must be willing to let it go.

Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

25 W hen 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.

‘ If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.

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

Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption,

27 T hen 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.

then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property.

28 B ut 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.

But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall revert, that he may return to his property.

29 ‘ 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.

‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year.

30 B ut 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.

But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not revert in the jubilee.

31 B ut 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.

The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered as open fields; they have redemption rights and revert in the jubilee.

32 T he houses in the cities of the Levites may be returned to the Levites at any time.

As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.

33 I f 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.

What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.

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

But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession. Of Poor Countrymen

35 ‘ 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.

‘ Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.

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

Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you.

37 D o not make him pay for the use of your money or your food.

You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.

38 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

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.

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

‘ If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service.

40 H e 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.

He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.

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

He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.

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

For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.

43 D o not make it hard for him, but fear your God.

You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.

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

As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.

45 Y ou 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.

Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.

46 Y ou 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.

You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another. Of Redeeming a Poor Man

47 ‘ 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.

‘Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family,

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

then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him,

49 H is 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.

or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

50 W ith 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.

He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him.

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

If there are still many years, he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption;

52 I f 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.

and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption.

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

Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not rule over him with severity in your sight.

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

Even if he is not redeemed by these means, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him.

55 B ecause 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.

For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.