The Sabbath Year

1 ThenYahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai,saying,

2 “Speak to the Israelites,and say to them, ‘When youcome into the land that I am about to give to you,thenthe land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh.

3 Six years youshall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield.

4 Butin the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath of complete restfor the land—a Sabbath for Yahweh; youmust not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard.

5 Youmust not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines—it shall be a year of complete restfor the land.

6 And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you:for youand for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residentswho are dwelling as aliens with you;

7 and all its yield shall be for yourdomestic animal and for the wild animal, which are in your land to eat.

The Year of Jubilee

8 “ ‘And youshall count for yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and they shall be for you time periods ofyears: forty-nineyears.

9 And youshall cause a loud horn blastto be heard on the seventh month on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Atonement youshall cause a ram’s horn to be heard in all yourland.

10 And youshall consecrate the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. It is a Jubilee; it shall be for you, and you shall return. You must return—everyone to his property and everyone to his clan.

11 Youshall have the fiftieth year as a Jubilee;you must not reap its aftergrowth, and you must not harvest its unpruned vines.

12 Because it is a Jubilee, it shall be holy to you. You must eat itsproduce from the field.

13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of youshall returnto his property.

14 And when yousell something to yourfellow citizen or you buy from yourneighbor’s hand, youmust not oppress one another.

15 Youmust buy from your fellow citizen according to the number of years after the Jubilee; he must sell to you according to the number of years of yield.

16 Youmust increase its price according to a greater number of years,butyou must decrease its price according to a lesser number of years,because he is selling its yields to you.

17 And youmust not oppress one another,butyoushall revere your God, because I am Yahweh, yourGod.

18 “ ‘And youshall do my statutes, and you must keep my regulations, and you shall do them, so thatyou shall live securelyon the land.

19 And the land shall give its fruit, and youshall eat your fill,and you shall live securelyon it.

20 And if youshould say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, ifwe do not sow and we do not gather its yield?”

21 thenI will command my blessing for youin the sixth year, so thatit will makethe yield for three years.

22 And youwill sow in the eighth year, and you shall eat from the old yield;until the ninth year, until the coming of its yield, you shall eat the old yield.

23 “ ‘Butthe land must not be sold inperpetuity, because the land is mine, because youare aliens and temporary residents with me.

24 And in all yourproperty’s land youmust provide redemption for the land.

25 “ ‘When yourbrother becomes poor and he sells part of his property, thenhis nearest redeemershall come, and he shall redeem the thing sold by his brother.

26 Butifa man does not havea redeemer, thenhe prospersand he finds enough for his redemption,

27 thenhe shall calculate the years of its selling, and he shall refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his property.

28 Butif his hand does not find enough to refund to him, thenwhat he has soldshall be in the buyer’s hand until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall go out of the buyer’s handin the Jubilee, and he shall return to his property.

29 “ ‘And if a man sells a residential house in a walled city,thenit shall be his redemption until completing a year after his selling;its redemption shall lasta year.

30 Butif it is not redeemed before a full year has passed,thenthe house that is in the walled cityshall belong to the buyer inperpetuity throughout his generations; it shall not go out of the buyer’s handin the Jubilee.

31 However,village houses that have no surrounding wall shall be considered open country;there is redemption for it, and in the Jubilee it shall go out of the buyer’s hand.

32 “ ‘As forthe cities of the Levites, that is, the houses intheir property’s cities, it shall be a lasting redemptionfor the Levites.

33 And whatever anyone redeems from the Levites thenmust go out of the buyer’s handin the Jubilee, including a house’s selling in his city’s property,because the houses inthe cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

34 Butafield of their cities’ pastureland must not be sold, because it is their property for all time.

35 “ ‘And if yourcountrymanbecomes poor and if he becomes dependent on you,thenyou shall support him like an alien and like a temporary resident, and he shall live with you.

36 Youmust not take interest orusury from him, butyou shall revere your God, and your countrymanshall live with you.

37 Youmust not give your money to him with interest orgive your food forprofit.

38 I am Yahweh yourGod, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give youthe land of Canaan, to be as God for you.

39 “ ‘And if yourcountrymanwho is with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, you shall not treat him as a slave.

40 He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a temporary resident; he shall work with you until the Year of Jubilee.

41 And he and his sons with him shall go out from you, and he shall return to his clan, and to the property of his ancestorshe shall return.

42 Because they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold as a slave.

43 Youshall not rule over him with ruthlessness, butyou shall revere your God.

44 “ ‘As foryourslave and yourslave woman who areyours,from the nations that are all around you,from them youmay buy a slave ora slave woman.

45 And youmay buy also from the childrenof the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed,they may be as property for you.

46 And youmay pass them on as an inheritance to yoursonsafter youto take possession of as property for all time—youmay let them work. Butas for yourcountrymen,the Israelites,youshall not rule with ruthlessness over one another.

47 “ ‘And if the alien orthe temporary resident who are with youprosper,butyour countrymanwho is with him becomes poor and he is sold to an alien, a temporary resident who is with you, or to a descendant of an alien’s clan,

48 after he is sold redemption shall be for him; one of his brothers may redeem him,

49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one ofhis close relativesfrom his clan may redeem him; or if he prospers,he may redeem himself.

50 And he shall calculate with his buyer from the year of his selling himselfuntil the Jubilee; and the value of his selling shall be according to the number of years—it shall be with him likea hired worker’s days.

51 If there are still many years, in keeping with themhe shall restore his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

52 And if there are a few years left until the Year of Jubilee, thenhe shall calculate for himself; he shall restore his redemption according to the number of his years.

53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired worker;he shall not rule over him with ruthlessness in yoursight.

54 And if he is not redeemed byany of these ways,thenhe and his sons with him shall go out in the Year of Jubilee.

55 Indeed,the Israelitesare servants for me; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh yourGod.’ ”