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

1
And the LORD 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 the LORD. ​
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Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
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But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. ​
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That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
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And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, ​
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And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

The Fiftieth Year of Jubilee

8
And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. ​
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Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. ​
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And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile 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 jubile 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 thy vine undressed.
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For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
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In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
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And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
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According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: ​
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According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
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Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. ​

Assurance of Provision in the Land

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Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
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And the land shall yield her 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 three years. ​
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And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

Redemption of Land and Property

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The land shall not be sold for ever: 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 waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. ​
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And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;
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Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.
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But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile 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; within a full year may he redeem it. ​
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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 established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile. ​
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But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.
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Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. ​
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And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubile: 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

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And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. ​
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Take thou no usury 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 usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
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I am the LORD your God, which 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

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And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: ​
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But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile:
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And then shall he depart from thee, both 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, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. ​
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Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
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Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen 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 do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.
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And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

Redemption from a Foreign Owner

47
And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: ​
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After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:
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Either 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 able, he may redeem himself.
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And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. ​
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If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again 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 jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.
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And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.
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And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both 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 the LORD 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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