Font Size
Leviticus 25-26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Leviticus 25-26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Sabbatical Year
25 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a Sabbath for the Lord.(A) 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in their yield, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 You may eat what the land yields during its Sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you,(B) 7 for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “You shall count off seven weeks[a] of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the Day of Atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land.(C) 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.(D) 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you: you shall not sow or reap the aftergrowth or harvest the unpruned vines. 12 For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.
13 “In this year of Jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property.(E) 14 When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another.(F) 15 When you buy from your neighbor, you shall pay only for the number of years until the Jubilee; the seller shall charge you only for the remaining crop years.(G) 16 If the years are more, you shall increase the price, and if the years are fewer, you shall diminish the price, for it is a certain number of harvests that are being sold to you. 17 You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.(H)
18 “You shall observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances, so that you may live on the land securely.(I) 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live on it securely. 20 Should you ask, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’(J) 21 I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will yield a crop for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the old crop; until the ninth year, when its produce comes in, you shall eat the old.(K) 23 The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants.(L) 24 Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.
25 “If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold.(M) 26 If the person has no one to redeem it but then prospers and finds sufficient means to do so, 27 the years since its sale shall be computed and the difference refunded to the person to whom it was sold, and the property shall be returned.(N) 28 But if there are not sufficient means to recover it, what was sold shall remain with the purchaser until the year of Jubilee; in the Jubilee it shall be released, and the property shall be returned.(O)
29 “If anyone sells a dwelling house in a walled city, it may be redeemed until a year has elapsed since its sale; the right of redemption shall be one year. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has elapsed, a house that is in a walled city shall pass in perpetuity to the purchaser, throughout the generations; it shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages that have no walls around them shall be classed as open country; they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall forever have the right of redemption of the houses in the cities belonging to them.(P) 33 Whatever property of the Levites that may be redeemed, that is, houses sold in a city belonging to them, shall be released in the Jubilee, for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites. 34 But the pasturelands around their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession for all time.
35 “If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you,[b] you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens.(Q) 36 Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God; let them live with you.(R) 37 You shall not lend them your money at interest taken in advance or provide them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.(S)
39 “If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves.(T) 40 They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children with them shall go out from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property.(U) 42 For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. 43 You shall not rule over them with harshness but shall fear your God.(V) 44 As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. 45 You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you and from their families who are with you who have been born in your land; they may be your property.(W) 46 You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness.(X)
47 “If resident aliens among you prosper, and if any of your kin fall into difficulty with one of them and sell themselves to an alien or to a branch of the alien’s family, 48 even after they have sold themselves they shall have the right of redemption; one of their brothers may redeem them,(Y) 49 or their uncle or their uncle’s son may redeem them, or anyone of their family who is of their own flesh may redeem them, or if they prosper they may redeem themselves.(Z) 50 They shall compute with the purchaser the total from the year when they sold themselves to the alien until the Jubilee year; the price of the sale shall be applied to the number of years: the time they were with the owner shall be rated as the time of a hired laborer.(AA) 51 If many years remain, they shall pay for their redemption in proportion to the purchase price,(AB) 52 and if few years remain until the Jubilee year, they shall compute thus: according to the years involved they shall make payment for their redemption. 53 As a laborer hired by the year they shall be under the alien’s authority, who shall not, however, rule with harshness over them in your sight. 54 And if they have not been redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children with them shall go out in the Jubilee year. 55 For to me the Israelites are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Rewards for Obedience
26 “You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no carved images or pillars, and you shall not place figured stones in your land, to worship at them, for I am the Lord your God.(AC) 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.(AD)
3 “If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully,(AE) 4 I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall overlap the vintage, and the vintage shall overlap the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full and live securely in your land.(AF) 6 And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land.(AG) 7 You shall give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.(AH) 9 I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will maintain my covenant with you.(AI) 10 You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new.(AJ) 11 I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you.(AK) 12 I[c] will be your God, and you shall be my people.(AL) 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
Penalties for Disobedience
14 “But if you will not obey me and do not observe all these commandments,(AM) 15 if you spurn my statutes and abhor my ordinances, so that you will not observe all my commandments and you break my covenant, 16 I in turn will do this to you: I will bring terror on you, consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.(AN) 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down by your enemies; your foes shall rule over you, and you shall flee though no one pursues you.(AO) 18 And if in spite of this you will not obey me, I will continue to punish you sevenfold for your sins. 19 I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper.(AP) 20 Your strength shall be spent to no purpose: your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.(AQ)
21 “If you continue hostile to me and will not obey me, I will continue to plague you sevenfold for your sins. 22 I will let loose wild animals against you, and they shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock; they shall make you few in number, and your roads shall be deserted.(AR)
23 “If in spite of these punishments you have not turned back to me but continue hostile to me,(AS) 24 then I, too, will continue hostile to you: I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.(AT) 25 I will bring the sword against you, executing vengeance for the covenant, and if you withdraw into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into enemy hands.(AU) 26 When I cut off your supply of bread,[d] ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven, and they shall dole out your bread by weight, and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied.(AV)
27 “But if, despite this, you disobey me and continue hostile to me, 28 I will continue hostile to you in fury; I in turn will punish you myself sevenfold for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.(AW) 30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars; I will heap your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols. I will abhor you.(AX) 31 I will lay your cities waste, will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odors.(AY) 32 I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to settle in it shall be appalled at it.(AZ) 33 And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be a desolation and your cities a waste.(BA)
34 “Then the land shall enjoy[e] its Sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest and enjoy[f] its Sabbath years.(BB) 35 As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were living on it. 36 And as for those of you who survive, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall though no one pursues.(BC) 37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though no one pursues, and you shall have no power to stand against your enemies.(BD) 38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall devour you.(BE) 39 And those of you who survive shall languish in the land of your enemies because of their iniquities; they shall also languish because of the iniquities of their ancestors.(BF)
40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors—their treachery against me and also their continued hostility to me,(BG) 41 so that I in turn was hostile to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if, then, their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,(BH) 42 then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.(BI) 43 For the land shall be deserted by them and enjoy[g] its Sabbath years by lying desolate without them, while they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they dared to spurn my ordinances, and they abhorred my statutes.(BJ) 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God,(BK) 45 but I will remember in their favor the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God: I am the Lord.”(BL)
46 These are the statutes and ordinances and laws that the Lord established between himself and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.(BM)
Leviticus 25-26
New International Version
Leviticus 25-26
New International Version
The Sabbath Year
25 The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,(A) 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.(B) 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest,(C) a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.(D) 5 Do not reap what grows of itself(E) or harvest the grapes(F) of your untended vines.(G) The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year(H) will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals(I) in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee(J)(K)
8 “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet(L) sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month;(M) on the Day of Atonement(N) sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty(O) throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee(P) for you; each of you is to return to your family property(Q) and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee(R) for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.(S) 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee(T) everyone is to return to their own property.
14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other.(U) 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years(V) since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price,(W) because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other,(X) but fear your God.(Y) I am the Lord your God.(Z)
18 “‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws,(AA) and you will live safely in the land.(AB) 19 Then the land will yield its fruit,(AC) and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.(AD) 20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year(AE) if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21 I will send you such a blessing(AF) in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.(AG) 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.(AH)
23 “‘The land(AI) must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine(AJ) and you reside in my land as foreigners(AK) and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption(AL) of the land.
25 “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative(AM) is to come and redeem(AN) what they have sold. 26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper(AO) and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27 they are to determine the value for the years(AP) since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.(AQ) 28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned(AR) in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.(AS)
29 “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
32 “‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns,(AT) which they possess. 33 So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34 But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.(AU)
35 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor(AV) and are unable to support themselves among you, help them(AW) as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interest(AX) or any profit from them, but fear your God,(AY) so that they may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend them money at interest(AZ) or sell them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan(BA) and to be your God.(BB)
39 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves.(BC) 40 They are to be treated as hired workers(BD) or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property(BE) of their ancestors.(BF) 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt,(BG) they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly,(BH) but fear your God.(BI)
44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
47 “‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves(BJ) to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, 48 they retain the right of redemption(BK) after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives(BL) may redeem them: 49 An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper,(BM) they may redeem themselves. 50 They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee.(BN) The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker(BO) for that number of years. 51 If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. 52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly.(BP) 53 They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly.(BQ)
54 “‘Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55 for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.(BR) I am the Lord your God.(BS)
Reward for Obedience
26 “‘Do not make idols(BT) or set up an image(BU) or a sacred stone(BV) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone(BW) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.
2 “‘Observe my Sabbaths(BX) and have reverence for my sanctuary.(BY) I am the Lord.
3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey(BZ) my commands, 4 I will send you rain(CA) in its season,(CB) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.(CC) 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want(CD) and live in safety in your land.(CE)
6 “‘I will grant peace in the land,(CF) and you will lie down(CG) and no one will make you afraid.(CH) I will remove wild beasts(CI) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies,(CJ) and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five(CK) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.(CL)
9 “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,(CM) and I will keep my covenant(CN) with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.(CO) 11 I will put my dwelling place[a](CP) among you, and I will not abhor you.(CQ) 12 I will walk(CR) among you and be your God,(CS) and you will be my people.(CT) 13 I am the Lord your God,(CU) who brought you out of Egypt(CV) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke(CW) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
Punishment for Disobedience
14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,(CX) 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws(CY) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,(CZ) 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever(DA) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.(DB) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.(DC) 17 I will set my face(DD) against you so that you will be defeated(DE) by your enemies;(DF) those who hate you will rule over you,(DG) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.(DH)
18 “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,(DI) I will punish(DJ) you for your sins seven times over.(DK) 19 I will break down your stubborn pride(DL) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.(DM) 20 Your strength will be spent in vain,(DN) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.(DO)
21 “‘If you remain hostile(DP) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,(DQ) as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals(DR) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few(DS) in number that your roads will be deserted.(DT)
23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction(DU) but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile(DV) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword(DW) on you to avenge(DX) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague(DY) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread,(DZ) ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
27 “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me(EA) but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger(EB) I will be hostile(EC) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.(ED) 29 You will eat(EE) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.(EF) 30 I will destroy your high places,(EG) cut down your incense altars(EH) and pile your dead bodies[b] on the lifeless forms of your idols,(EI) and I will abhor(EJ) you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins(EK) and lay waste(EL) your sanctuaries,(EM) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.(EN) 32 I myself will lay waste the land,(EO) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.(EP) 33 I will scatter(EQ) you among the nations(ER) and will draw out my sword(ES) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,(ET) and your cities will lie in ruins.(EU) 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate(EV) and you are in the country of your enemies;(EW) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest(EX) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
36 “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf(EY) will put them to flight.(EZ) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.(FA) 37 They will stumble over one another(FB) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.(FC) 38 You will perish(FD) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.(FE) 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’(FF) sins they will waste away.(FG)
40 “‘But if they will confess(FH) their sins(FI) and the sins of their ancestors(FJ)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile(FK) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts(FL) are humbled(FM) and they pay(FN) for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob(FO) and my covenant with Isaac(FP) and my covenant with Abraham,(FQ) and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted(FR) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected(FS) my laws and abhorred my decrees.(FT) 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,(FU) I will not reject them or abhor(FV) them so as to destroy them completely,(FW) breaking my covenant(FX) with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember(FY) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt(FZ) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai(GA) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.(GB)
Footnotes
- Leviticus 26:11 Or my tabernacle
- Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.