Leviticus25
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Yahweh said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
2“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh.
3You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;
4but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
5What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
6The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.
7For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
8“‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.
9Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.
10You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
11That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.
12For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.
13“‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
14“‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
15According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.
16According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.
17You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.
18“‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.
19The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;”
21then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.
22You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits from the old store until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.
23“‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
24In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
25“‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.
26If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
27then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.
28But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
29“‘If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
30If it isn’t 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 who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
31But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
32“‘Nevertheless, in the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses in the cities of their possession at any time.
33The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
34But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
35“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.
36Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.
37You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
38I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39“‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave.
40As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee.
41Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.
42For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.
43You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
44“‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
45Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.
46You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.
47“‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,
48after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;
49or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.
50He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.
51If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
52If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.
53As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.
54If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee: he and his children with him.
55For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Leviticus 25.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The sabbath of rest for the land in the seventh year. (1–7). The jubilee of the fiftieth year, Oppression forbidden. (8–22). Redemption of the land and houses. (23–34). Compassion towards the poor. (35–38). Laws respecting bondmen, Oppression forbidden. (39–55).
vv1-7
All labour was to cease in the seventh year, as much as daily labour on the seventh day. These statues tell us to beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abundance of his possessions. We are to exercise willing dependence on God's providence for our support; to consider ourselves the Lord's tenants or stewards, and to use our possessions accordingly. This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ. Through Him we are eased of the burden of wordly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us; and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith.
vv8-22
The word “jubilee” signifies a peculiarly animated sound of the silver trumpets. This sound was to be made on the evening of the great day of atonement; for the proclamation of gospel liberty and salvation results from the sacrifice of the Redeemer. It was provided that the lands should not be sold away from their families. They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and then returned to the owner or his heir. This tended to preserve their tribes and families distinct, till the coming of the Messiah. The liberty every man was born to, if sold or forfeited, should return at the year of jubilee. This was typical of redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and of being brought again to the liberty of the children of God. All bargains ought to be made by this rule, “Ye shall not oppress one another,” not take advantage of one another's ignorance or necessity, “but thou shalt fear thy God.” The fear of God reigning in the heart, would restrain from doing wrong to our neighbour in word or deed. Assurance was given that they should be great gainers, by observing these years of rest. If we are careful to do our duty, we may trust God with our comfort. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all neither sowed or reaped. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in obedience. Some asked, What shall we eat the seventh year? Thus many Christians anticipate evils, questioning what they shall do, and fearing to proceed in the way of duty. But we have no right to anticipate evils, so as to distress ourselves about them. To carnal minds we may appear to act absurdly, but the path of duty is ever the path of safety.
vv23-34
If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
סִינַי: Sinai, mountain of Arabia
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
Cross References
Leviticus 25The proclamation of liberty in the Jubilee typifies Christ's proclamation of spiritual liberty and gospel redemption.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Sowing the eighth year and eating old fruit has a historical parallel in Sennacherib's invasion sign.
Supported by JFB
Warns of exile so the land can enjoy the sabbaths it was denied during Israel's disobedience.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The foundational Covenant Code law establishing the seventh-year fallow for the land and the poor.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Historical example of God providing spontaneous, miraculous crops for consecutive years during a crisis.
Supported by JFB
Christ's exhortation against anxious care echoes the trust required for the sabbatical year's provision.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Deuteronomy parallel prohibiting taking usury or increase from a poor brother.
Supported by John Calvin
Since believers are bought with a price, they belong to God and must not be sold as slaves.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Masters must give servants what is just and equal, remembering they too have a Master in heaven.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The Babylonian exile explicitly fulfills the land's need to rest and keep its missed sabbaths.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Day of Atonement is the specific holy day when the Jubilee trumpet is sounded.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus reads Isaiah 61 and declares the ultimate fulfillment of the Jubilee's release.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel promise of eating spontaneous growth during years without sowing or reaping.
Supported by JFB
God's explicit answer to the question in verse 20, promising a threefold harvest.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Naboth's refusal to sell his inheritance reflects the divine law that the land is God's.
Supported by Matthew Poole
David confesses that Israel are strangers and sojourners before God, matching the land ownership law.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Defines the cities and suburbs of the Levites, which had distinct redemption rules.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament parallel instructing masters to give servants what is just and equal.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Deuteronomy parallel concerning the release and treatment of Hebrew servants.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The restoration of liberty in the Jubilee typified spiritual freedom and redemption through Christ's truth.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Christ became our near kinsman (Goel) to redeem us from bondage, acting as the ultimate redeemer.
Illustrates the active practice of the right of kinsman redemption (Goel) within Israel's land and family laws.
Explains why land returns in the Jubilee: the land belongs to God; Israel is tenants.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Prophetic reference to the 'year of liberty' where land gifts return to their original owners.
Supported by John Calvin
God's severe judgment on Israel for failing to release Hebrew slaves in accordance with the law.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Repeats the strict prohibition against oppressing one another in trade, grounded in fear of God.
Supported by JFB
The foundational jubilee proclamation of liberty and return to family possessions.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The Psalmist echoes that he is a stranger and sojourner on God's earth.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nehemiah rebukes the nobles for taking usury from their impoverished brethren.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The foundational decree of Jubilee requiring every man to return to his family and possession.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
Contrasts the forbidden 'rigour' among Hebrew brethren with Egypt's harsh oppression of Israel.
The law of kinsman redemption applied specifically to the recovery of lost or sold property.
Nehemiah instances this law, noting effort made to redeem Jewish brethren sold to heathens.
Applies the sounding of the trumpet globally to the preaching of the gospel message.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Promise of clearing out old store to make room for new harvest.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jeremiah purchases the field of his uncle's son, exercising the right of redemption.
Supported by Matthew Poole