Leviticus 25 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

The Sabbath Year

(Deu 15:1–11 )

Lev 25:1While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD said to him,

Lev 25:2“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the LORD every seventh year.

Lev 25:3

Lev 25:3For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops,

Lev 25:4

Lev 25:4but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the LORD’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year.

Lev 25:5

Lev 25:5And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

Lev 25:6

Lev 25:6But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you.

Lev 25:7

Lev 25:7Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.

The Year of Jubilee

Lev 25:8

Lev 25:8“In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all.

Lev 25:9

Lev 25:9Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year,[fn] blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land.

Lev 25:10

Lev 25:10Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan.

Lev 25:11

Lev 25:11This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines.

Lev 25:12

Lev 25:12It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own.

Lev 25:13

Lev 25:13In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors.

Lev 25:14

Lev 25:14“When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other.

Lev 25:15

Lev 25:15When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee.

Lev 25:16

Lev 25:16The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests.

Lev 25:17

Lev 25:17Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD your God.

Lev 25:18

Lev 25:18“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations.

Lev 25:19

Lev 25:19Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.

Lev 25:20

Lev 25:20But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’

Lev 25:21

Lev 25:21Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years.

Lev 25:22

Lev 25:22When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.

Redemption of Property

Lev 25:23

Lev 25:23“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.

Lev 25:24

Lev 25:24“With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back.

Lev 25:25

Lev 25:25If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him.

Lev 25:26

Lev 25:26If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back,

Lev 25:27

Lev 25:27he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land.

Lev 25:28

Lev 25:28But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.

Lev 25:29

Lev 25:29“Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back.

Lev 25:30

Lev 25:30But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

Lev 25:31

Lev 25:31But a house in a village—a settlement without fortified walls—will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

Lev 25:32

Lev 25:32“The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them.

Lev 25:33

Lev 25:33And any property that is sold by the Levites—all houses within the Levitical towns—must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.

Lev 25:34

Lev 25:34The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.

Redemption of the Poor and Enslaved

Lev 25:35

Lev 25:35“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you.

Lev 25:36

Lev 25:36Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative.

Lev 25:37

Lev 25:37Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him.

Lev 25:38

Lev 25:38I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Lev 25:39

Lev 25:39“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave.

Lev 25:40

Lev 25:40Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.

Lev 25:41

Lev 25:41At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors.

Lev 25:42

Lev 25:42The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves.

Lev 25:43

Lev 25:43Show your fear of God by not treating them harshly.

Lev 25:44

Lev 25:44“However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you.

Lev 25:45

Lev 25:45You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property,

Lev 25:46

Lev 25:46passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.

Lev 25:47

Lev 25:47“Suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Israelites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family,

Lev 25:48

Lev 25:48they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother,

Lev 25:49

Lev 25:49an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back. They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered.

Lev 25:50

Lev 25:50They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next Year of Jubilee—whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time.

Lev 25:51

Lev 25:51If many years still remain until the jubilee, they will repay the proper proportion of what they received when they sold themselves.

Lev 25:52

Lev 25:52If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption.

Lev 25:53

Lev 25:53The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly.

Lev 25:54

Lev 25:54If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time.

Lev 25:55

Lev 25:55For the people of Israel belong to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

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NLT Footnotes

(25:9)

Hebrew on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement; see 23:27a and the note there.

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