The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus

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- Kapitel 25 -

(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.

But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.

The Year of Jubilee

And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years.

Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.

So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.

The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.

For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.

Return of Property

In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.

If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining.

You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.

Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.

Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’

But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.

While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.

The Law of Redemption

The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,

he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.

But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property.

If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.

If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee.

But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.

So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.

But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.

Redemption of the Poor

Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

I 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.

Redemption of Bondmen

If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.

Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.

Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.

Redemption of Servants

If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him:

either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.

If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.

He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee.

For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

“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 the LORD.

You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;

but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

What 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.

The 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.

For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

“‘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.

Then 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.

You 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.

That 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.

For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

Return of Property

“‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

“‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

According 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.

According 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.

You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

“‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;”

then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.

You 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.

The Law of Redemption

“‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.

In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

“‘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.

If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,

then 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.

But 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.

“‘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.

If 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.

But 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.

“‘Nevertheless, in the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses in the cities of their possession at any time.

The 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.

But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Redemption of the Poor

“‘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.

Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.

You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

I 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.

Redemption of Bondmen

“‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee.

Then 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.

For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.

You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

“‘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.

Moreover, 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.

You 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.

Redemption of Servants

“‘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,

after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;

or 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.

He 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.

If 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.

If 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.

As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee: he and his children with him.

For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.