Leviticus 25:23-55

23 "Land must never be sold permanently, because the land is mine. To me you are strangers without permanent homes.

24 People must always have the right to buy their property back.

25 If your brother becomes poor and sells some of his property, then the one who can assume responsibility, his nearest relative, must buy back what he sold.

26 If a man doesn't have anyone to buy it back for him, but if he prospers and earns enough to buy it back himself,

27 he must count the years from its sale. Then he will pay what is left to the man to whom he sold it, and it will be his property again.

28 However, if he cannot earn enough to buy it back, what he sold stays in the hands of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it will be released, and he will own it again.

29 "If anyone sells a home in a walled city, for one year after selling it he has the right to buy it back. He may buy it back only within that time.

30 If he does not buy it back during that year, the house in the city belongs to the buyer for generations to come. It will not be released in the jubilee.

31 However, houses in villages without walls are regarded as belonging to the fields of the land. They can be bought back. They will be released in the jubilee.

32 "The Levites always have the right to buy back their property in the cities they own.

33 If any Levite buys back [a house], in the jubilee the purchased house in the city will be released, because the houses in the Levite cities are their property among the Israelites.

34 But a field that belongs to their cities must not be sold, because it is their permanent property.

35 "If an Israelite becomes poor and cannot support himself, help him. He must live with you as a stranger without a permanent home.

36 Don't collect interest or make any profit from him. Fear your God by respecting other Israelites' lives.

37 Never collect any kind of interest on your money or on the food you give them.

38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you Canaan and to be your God.

39 "If an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to you, don't work him like a slave.

40 He will be like a hired worker or a visitor to you. He may work with you until the year of jubilee.

41 Then you will release him and his children to go back to their family and the property of their ancestors.

42 They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. They must never be sold as slaves.

43 Do not treat them harshly. Fear your God.

44 "You may have male and female slaves, but buy them from the nations around you.

45 You may also buy them from the foreigners living among you and from their families born in your country. They will be your property.

46 You may acquire them for yourselves and for your descendants as permanent property. You may work them as slaves. However, do not treat the Israelites harshly. They are your relatives.

47 "Someone who is a foreigner without a permanent home among you may become rich, and your relative living with him may be poor. The poor Israelite may sell himself to that foreigner or a member of his family.

48 After he has sold himself, he has the right to be bought back. One of his brothers may buy him back.

49 His uncle, his cousin, or some other relative could also buy him back. If he becomes rich, he could buy his own freedom.

50 Then he and his buyer must take into account the number of years from the year he was bought until the year of jubilee. His sale price will be adjusted based on the number of years he was with his buyer, like the wages of a hired worker.

51 If there are many years left, he must refund from his purchase price an amount equal [to those years].

52 If there are only a few years left until the year of jubilee, he must take them into account. He must refund from his purchase price an amount equal to those years.

53 During those years he should serve his buyer as a hired worker. His buyer should not treat him harshly.

54 If he cannot buy his freedom in these ways, he and his children will be released in the year of jubilee.

55 "The Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."

Leviticus 25:23-55 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 25

In this chapter the Israelites are directed, when come into the land of Canaan, to observe every seventh year as a sabbatical year, in which there was to be no tillage of the land, and yet there would be a sufficiency for man and beast, Le 25:1-7; and every fiftieth year as a year of jubilee, in which also there was to be no tillage of the land, and every man was to return to his possession or estate, which had been sold to another any time before this, Le 25:8-17; and a promise of safety and plenty in the seventh year is made to encourage the observance of it, Le 25:18-22; and several laws and rules are delivered out concerning the sale of lands, the redemption of them, and their return to their original owner in the year of jubilee, Le 25:23-28; and the sale of houses, and the redemption of them, and the difference between those in walled cities and those in villages, with respect thereunto, Le 25:29-31; and also concerning the houses of the cities of the Levites, and the fields of the suburbs of them, Le 25:32-34; to which are added some instructions about relieving decayed, persons, and lending and giving to them, without taking usury of them, Le 25:34-38; and other laws concerning the release of such Israelites as had sold themselves for servants to the Israelites, in the year of jubilee, since none but Heathens were to be bondmen and bondmaids for ever, Le 25:39-46; and of such who were sold to proselytes, Le 25:47-55.