Leviticus 25

And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

1The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. He said this:

2Speak 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.

2Tell the people of Israel: when you come into the land I am giving you, the land itself must rest. This rest is for the LORD.

3Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

3For six years you may plant your fields. For six years you may trim your grapevines and gather the food.

4But 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.

4But the seventh year is a full year of rest for the land. It is a rest for the LORD. Do not plant your field or trim your vines.

5That 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.

5Do not harvest what grows by itself. Do not gather grapes from vines you did not trim. The land gets a whole year of rest.

6And 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,

6Whatever the land grows by itself that year is food for you. It feeds you, your workers, and visitors staying with you.

NoteThe KJV says "meat" here. In 1611 that word meant food of any kind, not just meat from animals.

7And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

7It also feeds your farm animals and the wild animals in your land. Everything that grows there may be eaten.

8And 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.

8Count seven sets of seven years. Seven times seven years makes forty-nine years.

9Then 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.

9Then blow a loud horn on the tenth day of the seventh month. That is the Day of Atonement, the day sins are cleared away. Blow the horn all through your land.

10And 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.

10Set the fiftieth year apart as special. Announce that everyone in the land is free. This year is called the Jubilee. Each person goes back to his own land and his own family.

11A 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.

11The fiftieth year is your Jubilee. Do not plant. Do not harvest what grows by itself. Do not gather grapes from untrimmed vines.

12For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

12It is the Jubilee, and it is holy to you. Eat only what grows in the open fields.

13In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

13In the Jubilee year, every person goes back to his own land.

14And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another:

14When you sell something to a neighbor, or buy from him, be fair. Do not cheat each other.

15According 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:

15Count the years since the last Jubilee. Set the price by how many harvests are still left.

16According 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.

16If many years are left, the price goes up. If few years are left, the price goes down. What is really being sold is a number of harvests.

17Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God:for I am the LORD your God.

17So do not cheat each other. Show respect for your God. I am the LORD your God.

18Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

18Follow my rules. Obey my laws carefully. Then you will live safely in the land.

19And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

19The land will grow food for you. You will eat all you want. You will live there safely.

20And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

20You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year? We did not plant or gather anything."

21Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

21I will bless you in the sixth year. The land will grow enough food to last three years.

22And 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.

22In the eighth year you will plant again. You will still be eating the old food until the ninth year's harvest comes in.

23The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

23Land must never be sold for good. The land belongs to me. You are like guests living on my land.

24And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

24Everywhere you own land, the first family must always be allowed to buy it back.

25If 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.

25If a fellow Israelite becomes poor and sells some of his land, a close relative may buy it back for him.

Note"Brother" in these laws means a fellow Israelite, not only a brother in the same family.

26And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;

26A man may have no relative to help him. But later he may earn enough to buy his land back himself.

27Then 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.

27Then he counts the years since he sold it. He pays the buyer what is still owed. Then his land is his again.

28But 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.

28If he cannot pay, the buyer keeps the land until the Jubilee year. In the Jubilee it goes back, and the man returns to his land.

29And 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.

29If a man sells a house inside a city with walls, he has one full year to buy it back.

30And 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.

30If he does not buy it back within that year, the house belongs to the buyer for good. It stays in the buyer's family. It does not go back in the Jubilee.

31But 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.

31Houses in villages with no walls count like open fields. They can be bought back, and they go back in the Jubilee.

32Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

32The Levites are the family who serve at God's holy tent. They may buy back houses in their own cities at any time.

33And 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.

33If someone buys a house from a Levite, that house goes back in the Jubilee. Houses in Levite cities belong to the Levites among Israel.

34But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

34But the open fields around Levite cities must never be sold. Those fields belong to the Levites always.

35And 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.

35If a fellow Israelite becomes poor and cannot care for himself, help him. Help him as you would help a visitor, so he can keep living near you.

36Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

36Do not make him pay you extra for a loan. Show respect for your God, so he can keep living near you.

NoteThe KJV word "usury" means charging extra money when you lend. Today we call that interest.

37Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

37Do not lend him money and charge extra. Do not sell him food to make extra money.

38I 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.

38I am the LORD your God. I brought you out of Egypt. I gave you the land of Canaan, and I am your God.

39And 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:

39If a fellow Israelite near you becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.

40But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile:

40Treat him like a hired worker or a guest. He will work for you until the Jubilee year.

41And 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.

41Then he and his children go free. He goes back to his own family and to the land of his fathers.

42For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

42They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. They must not be sold as slaves.

43Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

43Do not be harsh with him. Show respect for your God.

44Both 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.

44The men and women you own as slaves may come from the nations around you. You may buy slaves from them.

45Moreover 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.

45You may also buy from foreigners living among you, and from their families born in your land. They become your property.

46And 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.

46You may leave them to your children as property. They can be your slaves for life. But you must not be harsh with fellow Israelites.

47And 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:

47Suppose a foreigner living near you becomes rich. And a fellow Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to that foreigner or his family.

48After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:

48Even after he is sold, he can still be bought back. One of his relatives may pay to free him.

49Either 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.

49His uncle or his cousin may buy him back. Any close relative may. If he earns enough, he may buy himself back.

50And 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.

50He and the man who bought him count the years from the sale until the Jubilee. The price is based on those years, like the pay of a hired worker.

51If 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.

51If many years are still left, he must pay back a larger part of the price.

52And 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.

52If only a few years are left until the Jubilee, he counts them. He pays the smaller amount for those years.

53And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight.

53He must be treated like a worker hired year by year. His owner must not be harsh with him, and you must make sure of it.

54And 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.

54If no one buys him back, he still goes free in the Jubilee year. His children go free with him.

55For 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.

55The people of Israel are my servants. They are my servants, and I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.