Leviticus 25

The Sabbath Year

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

2 Tell the Israelites, when you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself must have a Sabbath rest for the Lord.

3 For six years, you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather crops.

4 But in the seventh year, the land must have a complete rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not plant fields, prune vineyards, or work the land.

5 Do not harvest what grows on its own or pick the grapes from untended vines. The land must rest.

6 But whatever grows naturally during the Sabbath year is for you, your servants, your workers, and any foreigners living among you.

7 Your livestock and wild animals may also eat whatever the land produces on its own.

The Year of Jubilee

8 Count off seven sets of Sabbath years, forty-nine years total.

9 Then on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement, blow the trumpet loud throughout the land.

10 Set the fiftieth year apart as holy and proclaim freedom throughout the land. This is the Year of Jubilee. Each person must return to their family property.

11 The fiftieth year is a Jubilee year. Do not plant or harvest what grows on its own.

12 It is a holy year. Eat only what the land produces naturally.

Property & Land Ownership in the Jubilee Year

13 In this Year of Jubilee, everyone must return to their original property.

14 If you buy or sell land, do not cheat each other.

15 The price must be based on the number of years left until the next Jubilee.

16 If many years remain, the price is higher. If few years remain, the price is lower. The sale price is based on how many harvests are left.

17 Do not cheat each other. Fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

God Provides During the Sabbath Year

18 Obey My laws and follow My commands, and you will live safely in the land.

19 The land will produce enough food for you, and you will live there without worry.

20 You may ask, what will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest crops.

21 I will bless you in the sixth year so that the land will produce enough for three years.

22 When you plant again in the eighth year, you will still be eating the old harvest until the new crops come in.

Land Belongs to God

23 The land must never be sold permanently, because the land belongs to Me. You are only foreigners and tenants living on My land.

24 You must allow land to be bought back by the original family.

25 If someone becomes poor and sells part of their land, their nearest relative may buy it back.

26 If they have no family to buy it back, but later get enough money,

27 They must calculate the time since they sold it and pay back the remaining value to the buyer. Then they can return to their land.

28 If they cannot afford to buy it back, the land remains with the buyer until the Year of Jubilee, when it must be returned to the original owner.

Rules About Selling Houses

29 If someone sells a house in a walled city, they have one year to buy it back.

30 If they do not buy it back within a year, it belongs permanently to the buyer and does not return in the Year of Jubilee.

31 But houses in villages without walls are treated like land. They can be bought back and must return to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

32 Levites always have the right to buy back their houses in their cities.

33 If a Levite sells a house, it must return to them in the Year of Jubilee, because Levites do not own land like the other tribes.

34 Levite pastures must never be sold, because they belong to them permanently.

Helping the Poor

35 If a fellow Israelite becomes poor, help them as you would a foreigner living among you.

36 Do not charge them interest when you lend them money. Fear your God.

37 Do not charge them for food either.

38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you this land and be your God.

Rules About Slavery

39 If an Israelite becomes poor and sells themselves to you, do not treat them like a slave.

40 They must be treated as hired workers and serve until the Year of Jubilee.

41 Then they and their children must be set free and return to their family property.

42 Israelites must not be treated as slaves, because they are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.

43 Do not rule over them harshly. Fear your God.

44 You may buy slaves from other nations.

45 You may also buy foreigners living among you and their children born in your land.

46 You may pass them down as permanent property to your children. But do not treat your fellow Israelites harshly.

Redeeming an Israelite Slave

47 If an Israelite becomes poor and sells themselves to a foreigner living among you,

48 They may be bought back by a relative.

49 Their uncle, cousin, or any close relative may redeem them, or if they get enough money, they may buy themselves back.

50 They must calculate the years left until the next Jubilee and pay the buyer for their freedom.

51 If many years remain, they must pay more.

52 If only a few years remain, they must pay less.

53 They must be treated as a hired worker, not a slave.

54 If they are not redeemed earlier, they and their children must be set free in the Year of Jubilee.

55 The Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.