The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus

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- Kapitel 25 -

(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ’When you come into the land that I give you, then the land must be made to keep a Sabbath for Yahweh.

You must plant your field for six years, and for six years you must prune your vineyard and gather the produce.

But in the seventh year, a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land must be observed, a Sabbath for Yahweh. You must not plant your field or prune your vineyard.

You must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grows by itself, and you must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grapes grow on your unpruned vines. This will be a year of solemn rest for the land.

Whatever the unworked land grows during the Sabbath year will be food for you. You, your male and female servants, your hired servants and the foreigners who live with you may gather food,

and your livestock and also wild animals may eat whatever the land produces.

The Year of Jubilee

You must count off seven Sabbaths of years, that is, seven times seven years, so that there will be seven Sabbaths of years, totaling forty-nine years.

Then you must blow a loud trumpet everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you must blow a trumpet throughout all your land.

You must set apart the fiftieth year to Yahweh and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee for you, in which property and slaves must be returned to their families.

The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. You must not plant or conduct an organized harvest. Eat whatever grows by itself, and gather the grapes that grow on the unpruned vines.

For it is a Jubilee, which will be holy for you. You must eat the produce that grows by itself out of the fields.

Return of Property

You must return everyone to his own property in this year of Jubilee.

If you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any land from your neighbor, you must not cheat or wrong each other.

If you buy land from your neighbor, consider the number of years and crops that can be harvested until the next Jubilee. Your neighbor selling the land must consider that also.

A larger number of years until the next Jubilee will increase the value of land, and a smaller number of years until the next Jubilee will decrease the value, because the number of harvests the land will produce for the new owner is related to the number of years before the next Jubilee.

You must not cheat or wrong one another; instead, you must honor your God, for I am Yahweh your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

Therefore, you must obey my decrees, keep my laws, and carry them out. Then you will live in the land in safety.

The land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.

You might say, “What will we eat during the seventh year? Look, we cannot plant or gather our produce.”

I will command my blessing to come upon you in the sixth year, and it will produce harvest enough for three years.

You will plant in the eighth year and continue to eat from the previous years’ produce and the stored food. Until the harvest of the ninth year comes in, you will be able to eat from the provisions stored in the previous years.

The Law of Redemption

The land must not be sold to a new permanent owner, because the land is mine. You are all foreigners and temporary residents on my land.

You must observe the right of redemption for all the land that you acquire; you must allow the land to be bought back by the family from whom you bought it.

If your fellow Israelite became poor and for that reason sold some of his property, then his nearest relative may come and buy back the property that he sold to you.

If a man has no relative to redeem his property, but if he has prospered and has the ability to redeem it,

then he may calculate the years since the land was sold and repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it. Then he may return to his own property.

But if he is not able to get the land back for himself, then the land he has sold will remain in the ownership of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. At the year of Jubilee, the land will be returned to the man who sold it, and the original owner will return to his property.

If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may buy it back within a whole year after it was sold. For a full year he will have the right of redemption.

If the house is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city will become the permanent property of the man who bought it, throughout his descendants’ generations. That house is not to be returned in the year of Jubilee.

But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them will be considered as the field of the land. They may be redeemed, and they must be returned during the year of Jubilee.

However, the houses owned by the Levites in their cities may be redeemed at any time.

If one of the Levites does not redeem a house he sold, then the house that was sold in the city where it is located must be returned in the year of Jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property among the people of Israel.

But the fields around their cities may not be sold because they are the permanent property of the Levites.

Redemption of the Poor

If your fellow countryman becomes poor, so that he can no longer provide for himself, then you must help him as you would help a foreigner or anyone else living as an outsider among you.

Do not charge him interest or try to profit from him in any way, but honor your God so that your brother may keep living with you.

You must not give him a loan of money and charge interest, nor sell him your food to earn a profit.

I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, in order that I might give you the land of Canaan, and that I might be your God.

Redemption of Bondmen

If your fellow countryman has become poor and sells himself to you, you must not make him work like a slave.

Treat him as a hired servant. He must be like someone living temporarily with you. He will serve with you until the year of Jubilee.

Then he will go away from you, he and his children with him, and he will return to his own family and to his fathers’ property.

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

You must not rule over them harshly, but you must honor your God.

As for your male and female slaves, whom you can obtain from the nations who live around you, you may buy slaves from them.

You may also buy slaves from the foreigners who are living among you, that is, from their families who are with you, children who have been born in your land. They may become your property.

You may provide such slaves as an inheritance for your children after you, to hold as property. From them you may always buy your slaves, but you must not rule over your brothers among the people of Israel with harshness.

Redemption of Servants

If a foreigner or someone living temporarily with you has become wealthy, and if one of your fellow Israelites has become poor and sells himself to that foreigner, or to someone in a foreigner’s family,

after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may be bought back. Someone in his family may redeem him.

It might be the person’s uncle, or his uncle’s son, who redeems him, or anyone who is his close relative from his family. Or, if he has become prosperous, he may redeem himself.

He must bargain with the man who bought him; they must count the years from the year he sold himself to his purchaser until the year of Jubilee. The price of his redemption must be figured in keeping with the rate paid to a hired servant, for the number of years he might continue to work for the one who bought him.

If there are still many years until the year of Jubilee, he must pay back as the price for his redemption an amount of money that is in proportion to the number of those years.

If there are only a few years to the year of Jubilee, then he must bargain with his purchaser to reflect the number of years left before the year of Jubilee, and he must pay for his redemption in keeping with the number of years.

He is to be treated like a man hired year by year. You must make sure he is not treated with harshness.

If he is not redeemed by these means, then he must serve until the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.

To me the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh 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.