Leviticus 25

₁The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai: ₂‘You must tell the Israelites: When you come into the land that I give you, every 7th year must be a Sabbath year to honour the Lord. ₃You must work in your fields for 6 years and harvest your wheat_fields and your vineyards. ₄But the 7th year is a special time of rest for the land. It is a Sabbath year for the Lord. Then you may not work in your fields and in your vineyards. ₅You may not send your workers to cut off the wheat and barley that you did not plant but that started to grow, and your workers may not pick the grapes in your vineyards. This is a year when the land must rest. ₆In the Sabbath year you, your men and women servants, the people that you have hired and the strangers with you must eat what there is in the land. ₇Your animals and the wild animals must also eat what food is in the land. There will be enough food for all of you.’

₈The Lord said to Moses: ‘Every 49 years, which are 7 groups of 7 years, ₉you must blow the ram's-horn on the 10th day of the 7th month, on the Day_of_atonement. You must blow it all over the land. ₁₀You must consecrate the 50th year and tell everyone in the land that they are free. This must be a year_of_freedom_and_celebration. Everyone can get back the land that belonged to them before, if they had to sell it. Every slave will be free and can go back to his family. ₁₁The 50th year must be a special year of celebration for you. Do not sow and do not send your workers to cut the wheat and barley that started to grow where you did not sow. Do not let your workers pick the grapes in your vineyards ₁₂because it is a year of celebration. It must be a holy year for you. You must eat the food that grows in the field.

₁₃In this year_of_freedom_and_celebration everyone can get back his land. ₁₄When you sell land to an Israelite or buy land from him, do not be unfair to him. ₁₅When you buy land, you must count how many years have passed after the year_of_freedom_and_celebration and when you sell your land, you must count how many times you can cut wheat until the next year_of_freedom_and_celebration. ₁₆If it is many years, then you must pay more and if it is only a few years, do not pay a lot of money for it because you are buying only the wheat harvests until the next year_of_freedom_and_celebration. ₁₇Do not be unfair to each other. You must fear God and respect Him. I am the Lord your God.

₁₈You must always do what I want and what I decide. If you do, then you will live safely in the land. ₁₉Then there will be lots of wheat that you can cut. You will have more than enough to eat and you will live safely in the land. ₂₀Maybe you will ask: “What will we eat in the 7th year if we may not sow wheat or harvest food?” ₂₁I will bless you and give you a lot of food in the 6th year. The wheat harvest will be enough for 3 years. ₂₂In the 8th year you will still eat the wheat that you harvested in the 6th year, but in the 9th year you will eat what you have planted in the 8th year.’

₂₃‘You may not sell land and say that it will always belong to another person because the land belongs to Me. You are strangers who live with Me. ₂₄If someone has sold his field anywhere in the land, he must be able to buy back his field.

₂₅If one of you has become poor and has had to sell his land, then his nearest protector must come and buy back the land that his family had to sell. ₂₆If a poor person does not have a protector but gets enough money to buy back the land, ₂₇then they must count how many years have passed since he sold the land and then he must pay the person who bought it for all the years that are left over until the next year_of_freedom_and_celebration. Then he can go back to his land. ₂₈But if the person does not have enough money to buy back the land, then the person who bought it must keep the land until the next year_of_freedom_and_celebration. After that the land will belong to the first person again and he may go back to his land.

₂₉If someone sells a house in a town or city with walls around it, then he may buy back the house in the first year after he has sold it. ₃₀If he does not buy back the house in the first year, then the person who bought the house and his descendants may always stay in that house. It will not belong to the first owner in the next year_of_freedom_and_celebration. ₃₁But if there are no walls around a town or if the house is in the field, then the first owner of the house will get it back in the year_of_freedom_and_celebration.

₃₂The Levites may always buy back the houses in their towns. ₃₃If a Levite sells his house in a city of the Levites and he can not buy it back, then he will get his house back in the year_of_freedom_and_celebration. The houses in the cities of the Levites must always belong to Levites. ₃₄The Levites may never sell the fields around their towns. They must always belong to them.’

₃₅‘If one of the Israelites becomes poor and he can not help himself, then you must help him to stay alive. He must live with you like a stranger or a visitor. ₃₆Do not tell him to pay interest when he borrows money from you. And when you sell something to him, do not ask him for too much money. You must respect your God and you must help other Israelites stay alive. ₃₇Do not make him pay interest when you lend him money, and when he buys food from you, do not make him pay too much for it. ₃₈I am the Lord your God, and I have brought you from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

₃₉If one of your people becomes so poor that he must sell himself to you, then you may not let him work for you like a slave. ₄₀He must work for you like someone that you have hired or like a stranger, and he must work for you only until the year_of_freedom_and_celebration. ₄₁Then he and his children may leave you. They may go back to his family and to the land of his forefathers. ₄₂Because the Israelites are my servants, I have saved them from the land of Egypt. You may not sell an Israelite like you sell a slave.

₄₃Do not rule harshly over other Israelites. You must respect your God. ₄₄You may buy men and women slaves from the people of other nations who are around you. ₄₅You may also buy slaves from strangers and visitors and from their families who were born in your land and they may belong to you. ₄₆And when you die, your children may inherit those slaves and keep them as long as they live. They may belong to you but you may not rule harshly over other Israelites.’

₄₇‘If a stranger or a visitor who lives among you has enough money and buys an Israelite who has become so poor that he has to sell himself to the stranger and his family, ₄₈then someone else may buy the Israelite man and give him back his freedom. One of his brothers may buy him back, ₄₉or his uncle or his cousin or anyone in his family may buy him back, or if he can do it himself, then he may buy himself back. ₅₀He and the man who bought him must count how many years it was from the time that he sold himself to the year_of_freedom_and_celebration, then he must pay to become free again. ₅₁If there are many years before the year_of_freedom_and_celebration, then he must pay a lot of money to become free. ₅₂If there are only a few years until the year_of_freedom_and_celebration, then he does not have to pay a lot of money. He has to pay only for each year. ₅₃He will then be like a man who is hired and who works for a stranger for a few years. You must make sure that the stranger does not rule harshly over the Israelite. ₅₄If someone does not buy him and give him his freedom, then he and his children will become free in the year_of_freedom_and_celebration. ₅₅This is what you must do because the Israelites are my servants, and I have brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord their God.’