Leviticus25

Leviticus 25 outlines God's laws for the Sabbatical year and the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites in the promised land. Every seventh year, the land was to rest, with no sowing or reaping, and its spontaneous produce was for all. After seven Sabbatical cycles, the fiftieth year was the Jubilee, when liberty was proclaimed, and all land and Israelite servants returned to their original families and possessions. These laws ensured economic equity and reminded the people of God's ultimate ownership and provision.

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The Sabbath Year for the Land

And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

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 Jehovah.

Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;

but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger, who sojourn with thee.

And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.

The Fiftieth Year of Jubilee

And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years.

Then shalt thou send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

A jubilee 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 the undressed vines.

For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor’s hand, ye shall not wrong one another.

According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee.

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

And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am Jehovah your God.

Assurance of Provision in the Land

Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

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

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

then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.

And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old store.

Redemption of Land and Property

And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

If thy brother be waxed poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold.

And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it;

then let him reckon the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return unto his possession.

But if he be not able to get it back for himself, then that which he hath sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

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; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption.

And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.

But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.

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

And if one of the Levites redeem, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

Laws Against Oppression and Usury

And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee.

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

Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.

I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

Laws Concerning Hebrew Servitude

And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant.

As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee:

then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.

For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God.

And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

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

And ye shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.

Redemption from a Foreign Owner

And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxed rich, and thy brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family;

after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him;

or 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 waxed rich, he may redeem himself.

And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.

If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption.

As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.

And if he be not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him.

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 Jehovah your God.

Study Notes for Leviticus 25

Verse 2

These laws are contingent upon Israel entering and possessing the Promised Land, establishing that the covenant requirements apply specifically within the context of the Holy Land.

Verse 4

The sabbatical rest (Shemitah) served as a practical test of faith, requiring the people to trust God for provision, while also demonstrating that the land ultimately belongs to the Creator.

Verse 6

The spontaneous yield of the seventh year was to be shared equally among all—owners, servants, hired workers, and even animals—promoting social equality and minimizing economic stratification.

Verse 8

The Jubilee cycle is based on seven cycles of the sabbatical year (7x7=49), emphasizing the ultimate completion and restoration implied by the number seven.

Verse 9

The Jubilee (Yovel) was inaugurated on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), linking economic and social restoration to national spiritual cleansing and reconciliation with God.

Verse 10

This verse is the theological and social pinnacle of the chapter. The command to 'proclaim liberty' ensures that alienated ancestral lands are returned and indentured servants are freed, preventing permanent poverty and maintaining tribal integrity.

Verse 15

Land transfer was not a permanent sale of ownership but rather a lease of the remaining harvests until the next Jubilee. The price was calculated based on the number of years left, ensuring fairness.

Verse 17

The prohibition on oppression is enforced by the fear of God (reverence) rather than just civil law, emphasizing that economic injustice is a violation of the covenant relationship.

Verse 20

This section anticipates and addresses the Israelites' likely practical anxiety over the agricultural impact of resting the land for two consecutive years (Sabbatical and Jubilee).

Verse 21

God promises a supernatural triple yield in the sixth year, providing provision for the sixth, seventh (Sabbatical), and eighth (sowing) years, demonstrating divine faithfulness.

Verse 23

This verse provides the theological foundation for all land laws: God maintains ultimate ownership. Israel is merely resident on His property ('strangers and sojourners'), preventing the permanent alienation of tribal inheritances.

Verse 25

This introduces the institution of the *go'el* (kinsman redeemer), a relative who has the right and duty to buy back family property or personhood lost due to poverty.

Verse 29

A distinction is made between rural land (which must return in Jubilee) and urban dwelling houses in walled cities. Urban houses were treated differently because their value lay in the structure, not the agricultural production.

Verse 30

If not redeemed within a year, a house in a walled city became the permanent possession of the buyer, reflecting the emergent, non-agricultural economy of city life.

Verse 32

The properties of the Levites, who received no typical territorial inheritance, were given special protection, allowing them perpetual right of redemption or automatic return at Jubilee.

Verse 35

The requirement to relieve poverty extends even to resident strangers, showing that the covenant community had a universal ethical obligation to care for those in need among them.

Verse 36

Usury (taking interest) from a needy Israelite was forbidden because it capitalized on a brother's misfortune, violating the communal ethic of the covenant.

Verse 38

The Exodus is cited as the basis for these laws; God's redemption of Israel obligates them to live justly and maintain the social order He established.

Verse 39

A poor Israelite who sold himself into service could not be treated as chattel or a permanent slave (*bondservant*), but only as a temporary hired hand.

Verse 42

The reason for limited servitude is theological: since God redeemed Israel from Egyptian slavery, they belong exclusively to Him and cannot be permanently subjugated by another human master.

Verse 44

This passage permits the acquisition of slaves from surrounding foreign nations, a practice common in the ANE, but strictly distinguishes this permanent, inheritable bondage from the temporary indentured service of fellow Israelites.

Verse 47

This addresses the scenario where an Israelite is forced by poverty to sell himself to a wealthy resident alien (a non-Israelite living within the land).

Verse 50

The redemption price is calculated based on the remaining years until the Jubilee, treating the service as a prepaid lease, consistent with the land sale calculation (vv. 15-16).

Verse 54

This verse provides the final fail-safe: even if no kinsman redeems the servant, the Jubilee automatically grants freedom, ensuring the covenant promise of liberty is fulfilled.

Verse 55

The chapter concludes with a powerful reiteration of God’s claim over Israel, emphasizing that their identity as 'my servants' (redeemed from Egypt) is the ultimate justification for all these laws of liberty and restoration.

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Leviticus25

The Sabbath Year for the Land

The Fiftieth Year of Jubilee

Assurance of Provision in the Land

Redemption of Land and Property

Laws Against Oppression and Usury

Laws Concerning Hebrew Servitude

Redemption from a Foreign Owner

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