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Leviticus 25

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The Sabbath Year for the Land 1–7

1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
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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. ​
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Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
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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. ​
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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.
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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. ​
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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 8–17

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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. ​
9
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. ​
10
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. ​
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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.
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For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
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In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.
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And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor’s hand, ye shall not wrong one another.
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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. ​
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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.
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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 18–22

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Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
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And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
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And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase; ​
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then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years. ​
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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 23–34

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And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. ​
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And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
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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. ​
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And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it;
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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.
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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.
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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. ​
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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. ​
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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.
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Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. ​
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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.
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But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

Laws Against Oppression and Usury 35–38

35
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. ​
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Take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. ​
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Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.
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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 39–46

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And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant. ​
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As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee:
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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.
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For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. ​
43
Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God.
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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. ​
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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.
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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 47–55

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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; ​
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after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him;
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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.
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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. ​
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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.
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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.
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As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.
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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. ​
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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. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Leviticus 25

Verse 2

the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD — The sabbath belongs to the land itself (shabath, to cease) and is 'unto the LORD', as the weekly one is. It is spoken at Sinai (v.1) for a land not yet entered. Its neglect is answered in Lev 26:34–35: the land is to 'enjoy her sabbaths' while it lies desolate, and 2 Chr 36:21 records that it 'enjoyed her sabbaths'.

Verse 4

a sabbath of rest — Shabbath shabbathon, the full-rest phrase used of the weekly sabbath (Lev 23:3) and the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:31), is here applied to a whole year. After six years of sowing and pruning (v.3) the ground lies still, 'that the poor of thy people may eat' (Ex 23:11).

Verse 6

shall be meat for you — 'Meat' is ochlah, food. What the land bears untended (v.5) feeds the owner, 'for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee', and in v.7 the cattle and beasts as well. Ex 23:11 adds the poor and 'the beasts of the field'.

Verse 8

seven sabbaths of years — Seven times seven years make forty-nine, and the fiftieth follows (v.10). The count is the pattern of Lev 23:15–16, where 'seven sabbaths shall be complete' and 'fifty days' are numbered to the new meat offering. There the count runs in days, here in years.

Verse 9

the day of atonement — The blast begins on the tenth day of the seventh month. The 'trumpet' is the shophar and the sound a teruah, an alarm-blast; the day is the one on which 'the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you' (Lev 16:30). The liberty of v.10 follows it.

Verse 10

proclaim liberty — Deror, liberty, is also the word of Isa 61:1, 'to proclaim liberty to the captives', which Christ read in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18–21). Yobel, the 'jubile', is a ram's horn, as in Josh 6:4. In Jer 34:8–17 the same liberty is proclaimed and then taken back.

Verse 15

the number of years of the fruits — What is sold is a count of harvests: 'according to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price… and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price' (v.16). The price falls as the jubile nears; the same reckoning governs a field sanctified to the LORD (Lev 27:18).

Verse 17

thou shalt fear thy God — v.14 forbids oppression between buyer and seller, and v.17 repeats the command with its reason. 'Fear thy God' closes three commands in this chapter, at vv.17, 36 and 43, each concerning someone at another's mercy: the seller of years, the poor brother, the servant.

Verse 20

What shall we eat the seventh year? — This is the question the law itself expects. Christ names the same worry: 'take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?' (Matt 6:31). The answer comes in the next verse, a blessing that the LORD 'will command'.

Verse 21

I will command my blessing — The verb is tsavah, to command, as in Deut 28:8, 'The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses'. The sixth year's crop is to carry through the seventh and beyond the eighth year's sowing: 'ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year' (v.22).

Verse 23

the land is mine — This is the ground of all these laws. Israel holds the land as 'strangers and sojourners with me' (ger and toshab), the pair David uses before the LORD (1 Chr 29:15; Ps 39:12). 'For ever' is tsemithuth, a cutting off, found only here and in v.30. Ps 24:1 states it of the whole earth.

Verse 25

to redeem it — Ga'al is to act as the near kinsman. The one who does so is the go'el: Naomi calls Boaz 'one of our next kinsmen' (Ruth 2:20), and Boaz brings the field to the nearer kinsman at the gate (Ruth 4:1–6). Jeremiah's cousin comes to him with 'the right of redemption' of the field at Anathoth (Jer 32:7–8).

Verse 29

a dwelling house in a walled city — A house sold in a walled city could be redeemed only for a year, and the verse says so twice: 'within a whole year… within a full year'. The second phrase is literally 'days', the span of a year. The villages 'which have no wall' keep the field's rules (v.31).

Verse 30

established for ever — The buyer keeps it 'throughout his generations', and it 'shall not go out in the jubile'. 'For ever' is tsemithuth, the word that forbids selling the land in v.23, and the two verses are the only places it occurs. The field returns; the house in a walled city, once the year has run, does not.

Verse 32

redeem at any time — The Levites' forty-eight cities, with their suburbs, were given from the other tribes (Num 35:2–8). Their houses could be redeemed 'at any time' (olam), and they went out in the jubile (v.33), 'for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel'.

Verse 35

then thou shalt relieve him — The poor man is 'fallen in decay' (mot, to waver or slip); chazaq, 'relieve', is to take hold and strengthen. The duty reaches 'a stranger, or a sojourner' as well as the brother, and the aim is stated: 'that he may live with thee', repeated in v.36. See Deut 15:7–8.

Verse 36

Take thou no usury — Neshek, interest on a loan. The prohibition covers a poor brother, as in Ex 22:25 and Deut 23:19–20, where interest may be taken of a stranger but 'unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury'. The stated reason is 'that thy brother may live with thee'.

Verse 38

to give you the land of Canaan — The LORD who 'brought you forth out of the land of Egypt' also gives the land, 'and to be your God'. This is the promise to Abraham: 'all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God' (Gen 17:8). The laws that follow rest on both acts.

Verse 39

thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant — Literally, he is not to be made to do 'the service' ('abodah) of a slave ('ebed). He stays 'as an hired servant, and as a sojourner' (v.40) and departs in the jubile with his children (v.41). Compare 2 Kgs 4:1, where a creditor comes 'to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen'.

Verse 42

they are my servants — The reason for v.39 is that Israel already belongs to the LORD, who 'brought forth' (yatsa) the people from Egypt. They 'shall not be sold as bondmen'. Paul argues from the same ownership: 'Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men' (1 Cor 7:23), and 'servants to God' (Rom 6:22).

Verse 44

of the heathen that are round about you — Bondmen and bondmaids may be bought from the nations (goyim) around, and v.45 adds the strangers who sojourn in the land. A servant bought for money was to be circumcised before he ate the passover (Ex 12:44). Over 'your brethren the children of Israel' no one is to 'rule one over another with rigour' (v.46).

Verse 47

sell himself unto the stranger — The same law now covers an Israelite sold to a resident foreigner (ger or toshab, the pair of vv.23 and 35). He keeps the right of redemption: 'one of his brethren may redeem him' (v.48), whether uncle, cousin or any near kin (v.49), or he may redeem himself if he is able.

Verse 50

the time of an hired servant — The price of redemption is reckoned back from the year of the sale to the jubile, as a hireling's term; 'the years of an hireling' is a phrase for exact counting (Isa 16:14). Many years left means a larger sum, 'few years' a smaller (vv.51–52), and the master 'shall not rule with rigour' (v.53).

Verse 54

he shall go out in the year of jubile — If no kinsman redeems him, the jubile frees 'both he, and his children with him'. 'Go out' is yatsa, the verb of the property that 'shall go out in the jubile' (vv.28, 30, 31, 33) and of 'brought forth' from Egypt (vv.38, 42, 55): one verb names both the exodus and the release.

Verse 55

my servants whom I brought forth — The chapter closes where v.42 began: the children of Israel are the LORD's servants, so none can be another's for good. The declaration 'I am the LORD your God' ends the law of the jubile as it ended the opening laws (v.17), and echoes Ex 20:2, 'which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt'.