1 T he Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,

And the Lord spoke to Moses on 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 children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep 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 its fruit;

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 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.

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.

What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.

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.

And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,

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

for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food. The Year of Jubilee

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.

‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you 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.

Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all 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.

And you shall consecrate 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 possession, 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.

That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine.

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

For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

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

‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.

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

And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress 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.

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

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.

According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops.

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

Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God. Provisions for the Seventh Year

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

‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.

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 fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

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?”

‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”

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 command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough 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.

And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. Redemption of Property

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 shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

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

And in all the land of your possession you shall grant 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 one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother 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 if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,

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 let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.

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 is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

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.

‘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.

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 redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released 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.

However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

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

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

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.

And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children 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 the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. Lending to the Poor

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.

‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help 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.

Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.

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

You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.

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. The Law Concerning Slavery

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

‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave.

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.

As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve 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.

And then 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.

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 of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.

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

You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.

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

And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.

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.

Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property.

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.

And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

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 a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the 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.

after he is sold he may be redeemed again. 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 anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able 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.

Thus he shall reckon 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 Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for 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 remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought.

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 there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of 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.

He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him 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.

And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children 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 children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.