Leviticus 25-26

New King James Version

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year^(A)

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount ^(B)Sinai, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall ^(C)keep a sabbath to the Lord. ³Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴but in the ^(D)seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn ^(E)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵^(F)What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. ⁶And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, ⁷for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

⁸‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. ⁹Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; ^(G)on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. ¹⁰And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and ^(H)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; ^(I)and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it ^(J)you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. ¹²For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; ^(K)you shall eat its produce from the field.

¹³^(L)‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. ¹⁴And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not ^(M)oppress one another. ¹⁵^(N)According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. ¹⁷Therefore ^(O)you shall not ^[a]oppress one another, ^(P)but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

¹⁸^(Q)‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; ^(R)and you will dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, and ^(S)you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

²⁰‘And if you say, ^(T)“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since ^(U)we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” ²¹Then I will ^(V)command My blessing on you in the ^(W)sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. ²²^(X)And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat ^(Y)old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Redemption of Property

²³‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for ^(Z)the land is Mine; for you are ^(AA)strangers and sojourners with Me. ²⁴And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

²⁵^(AB)‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if ^(AC)his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. ²⁶Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, ²⁷then ^(AD)let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. ²⁸But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; ^(AE)and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

²⁹‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. ³⁰But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. ³¹However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. ³²Nevertheless ^(AF)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. ³⁴But ^(AG)the field of the common-land of their cities may not be ^(AH)sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Lending to the Poor

³⁵‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and ^[b]falls into poverty among you, then you shall ^(AI)help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ³⁶^(AJ)Take no usury or interest from him; but ^(AK)fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. ³⁸^(AL)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.

The Law Concerning Slavery

³⁹‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹And then he shall depart from you—he and his children ^(AM)with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. ⁴²For they are ^(AN)My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³^(AO)You shall not rule over him ^(AP)with ^[c]rigor, but you ^(AQ)shall fear your God. ⁴⁴And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵Moreover you may buy ^(AR)the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. ⁴⁶And ^(AS)you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

⁴⁷‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, ⁴⁸after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be ^(AT)according to the time of a hired servant for him. ⁵¹If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. ⁵²And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. ⁵³He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. ⁵⁴And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. ⁵⁵For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Promise of Blessing and Retribution^(AU)

26 ‘You shall ^(AV)not make idols for yourselves;

neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;

nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;

for I am the Lord your God.

²^(AW)You shall ^[d]keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:

I am the Lord.

³^(AX)‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴^(AY)then I will give you rain in its season, ^(AZ)the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵^(BA)Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and ^(BB)dwell in your land safely.

⁶^(BC)I will give peace in the land, and ^(BD)you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of ^(BE)evil^[e] beasts,

and ^(BF)the sword will not go through your land.

⁷You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸^(BG)Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹‘For I will ^(BH)look on you favorably and ^(BI)make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My ^(BJ)covenant with you.

¹⁰You shall eat the ^(BK)old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹^(BL)I will set My ^[f]tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹²^(BM)I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your ^(BN)yoke and made you walk ^[g]upright.

¹⁴‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶I also will do this to you:

I will even appoint terror over you, ^(BO)wasting disease and fever which shall ^(BP)consume the eyes and ^(BQ)cause sorrow of heart.

And ^(BR)you shall sow your seed ^[h]in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷I will ^[i]set ^(BS)My face against you, and ^(BT)you shall be defeated by your enemies.

^(BU)Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall ^(BV)flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you ^(BW)seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹I will ^(BX)break the pride of your power;

I ^(BY)will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰And your ^(BZ)strength shall be spent in vain;

for your ^(CA)land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²²^(CB)I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;

and ^(CC)your highways shall be desolate.

²³‘And if ^(CD)by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴^(CE)then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵And ^(CF)I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities ^(CG)I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶^(CH)When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, ^(CI)and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹^(CJ)You^[j] shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰^(CK)I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;

and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹I will lay your ^(CL)cities waste and ^(CM)bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not ^(CN)smell the fragrance of your ^[k]sweet aromas.

³²^(CO)I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³^(CP)I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;

your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴^(CQ)Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;

then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—

for the time it did not rest on your ^(CR)sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send ^(CS)faintness^[l] into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;

the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;

they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷^(CT)They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;

and ^(CU)you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸You shall ^(CV)perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹And those of you who are left ^(CW)shall ^[m]waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;

also in their ^(CX)fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰‘But ^(CY)if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their ^(CZ)uncircumcised hearts are ^(DA)humbled, and they ^(DB)accept their guilt—

⁴²then I will ^(DC)remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will ^(DD)remember the land.

⁴³^(DE)The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they ^(DF)despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, ^(DG)I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵But ^(DH)for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, ^(DI)whom I brought out of the land of Egypt ^(DJ)in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

I am the Lord.’ ”

⁴⁶^(DK)These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel ^(DL)on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.