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. ³ Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴ but 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. ⁶ And 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, ⁷ for 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. ⁹ Then 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. ¹⁰ And 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. ¹¹ That 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. ¹² For 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. ¹⁴ And 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. ¹⁶ According 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. ¹⁷ Therefore ^(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. ¹⁹ Then 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?” ²¹ Then 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. ²⁴ And 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. ²⁶ Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, ²⁷ then ^(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. ²⁸ But 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. ³⁰ But 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. ³¹ However 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. ³² Nevertheless ^(AF)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³ And 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. ³⁴ But ^(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. ³⁷ You 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. ⁴⁰ As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ And 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. ⁴² For 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. ⁴⁴ And 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. ⁴⁵ Moreover 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. ⁴⁶ And ^(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, ⁴⁸ after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹ or 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. ⁵⁰ Thus 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. ⁵¹ If 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. ⁵² And 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. ⁵³ He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. ⁵⁴ And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For 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.

A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness

A Psalm of David.

A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption

A Psalm of David.

Paul’s Defense at Jerusalem

22 “Brethren^(A) and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” ² And when they heard that he spoke to them in the ^(B)Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.

Then he said: ^3 (C)“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city ^(D)at the feet of ^(E)Gamaliel, taught ^(F)according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and ^(G)was zealous toward God ^(H)as you all are today. ^4 (I)I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, ⁵ as also the high priest bears me witness, and ^(J)all the council of the elders, ^(K)from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus ^(L)to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “Now ^(M)it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹ “And ^(N)those who were with me indeed saw the light ^[a]and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. ¹⁰ So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹² “Then ^(O)a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, ^(P)having a good testimony with all the ^(Q)Jews who dwelt there, ¹³ came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him. ¹⁴ Then he said, ^(R)‘The God of our fathers ^(S)has chosen you that you should ^(T)know His will, and ^(U)see the Just One, ^(V)and hear the voice of His mouth. ^15 (W)For you will be His witness to all men of ^(X)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, ^(Y)and wash away your sins, ^(Z)calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷ “Now ^(AA)it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance ¹⁸ and ^(AB)saw Him saying to me, ^(AC)‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ ¹⁹ So I said, ‘Lord, ^(AD)they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and ^(AE)beat those who believe on You. ^20 (AF)And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by ^(AG)consenting ^[b]to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ ²¹ Then He said to me, ‘Depart, ^(AH)for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”

Paul’s Roman Citizenship

²² And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, ^(AI)“Away with such a fellow from the earth, for ^(AJ)he is not fit to live!” ²³ Then, as they cried out and ^[c]tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. ²⁵ And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, ^(AK)“Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”

²⁷ Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”

He said, “Yes.”

²⁸ The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.”

And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹ Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

The Sanhedrin Divided

³⁰ The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.