Self-interpreting Bible

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Leviticus 25

1The sabbath of the seventh year. 8The jubile in the fiftieth year. 14Oppression forbidden. 18A blessing promised to obedience. 23The redemption of land, 29and of houses. 35Compassion to be had of the poor; and usury restrained. 39The usage of bondservants. 47The redemption of servants.

1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses ain mount Sinai, saying,

2 Speak bunto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into cthe land which I give you, then shall the land 1keep a sabbath unto the LORD.

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

    4 But din 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.

    5 That which egroweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine 2undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

    6 And the sabbath of the land fshall 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,

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

    • *: meat-food of any kind.

    8 ¶And thou shalt number gseven 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.

    9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the h*jubile to 3sound on the itenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

    10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim jliberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a *jubile unto you; kand ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

    11 A *jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye lshall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

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

    • *: jubile-year of release, begun with the sound of the trumpet or horn.

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

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

    15 According oto 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:

    16 According 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.

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

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

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

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

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

      22 vAnd ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of wold fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

      23 ¶The land xshall not be 4sold for ever: for ythe land is mine; for ye are zstrangers and *sojourners with me.

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

      25 ¶If thy brother be bwaxen 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.

      26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and 5himself be able to redeem it;

      • 5: Heb. his hand hath attained and found sufficiency.

      27 Then clet 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.

      28 But 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 dshall return unto his possession.

      29 And 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.

        30 And 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.

        • *: jubile-year of release, begun with the sound of the trumpet or horn.

        31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: 6they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the *jubile.

        • 6: Heb. redemption belongeth unto it.
        • *: jubile-year of release, begun with the sound of the trumpet or horn.

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

        33 And if a man 7purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of *jubile: ffor the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

        34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may gnot be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

        35 ¶And if hthy brother be waxen poor, and 8fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt 9relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a *sojourner; that he may live with thee.

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

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

        • *: usury-interest on money lent. , victuals-food.

        38 I kam 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.

        39 ¶And lif thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt 10not compel him to serve as a bondservant:

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

        • *: sojourner-dweller for a time. , jubile-year of release, begun with the sound of the trumpet or horn.

        41 And then mshall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto nhis own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.

        42 For they are omy servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold 11as bondmen.

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

        44 Both rthy 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.

        45 Moreover 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.

        • *: sojourn-dwell for a time.

        46 And sye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; 12they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, tye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

        47 ¶And if a *sojourner or stranger 13wax rich by thee, and uthy 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:

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

        49 Either 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 whe be able, he may redeem himself.

        50 And xhe 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, yaccording to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.

        51 If there be yet many years behind, zaccording unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

        52 And 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.

        • *: jubile-year of release, begun with the sound of the trumpet or horn.

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

        54 And if he be not redeemed 14in these years, then he bshall go out in the year of *jubile, both he, and his children with him.

        55 For unto me the children of Israel care servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.