Leviticus 25:23-55 ▼

23 Surely the land shall not be sold outright; for the land is mine; you are strangers and sojourners with me.

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

25 If your brother becomes poor and sells some of his possession, then his nearest kin shall come and redeem that which his brother has sold.

26 And if the man has no one to redeem it, and himself has sufficient means and is able to redeem it,

27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof and refund the overplus to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.

28 But if he cannot afford to pay him back, then that which he sold shall remain secure in the hand of him who has bought it until the year of jubilee; and in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

29 If a man sells a dwelling 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 And if it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be confirmed for ever to him who bought it throughout his generations; it shall not be released in the jubilee.

31 But the houses of the villages which have no walls round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the jubilee.

32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses which are in the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have the right to redeem for ever.

33 And if a man purchases of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall be released in the year of jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possessions among the children of Israel.

34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 And if your brother becomes poor and stretches out his hand for help, you shall not look upon him as a stranger or a sojourner; he shall live with you.

36 You shall not take a discount of him or usury; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.

37 You shall not lend him your money with a discount nor give him your food with usury.

38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39 And if your brother becomes poor and be sold to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant;

40 But as a hired laborer, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee;

41 And then he shall depart from you, both he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers shall he return.

42 For they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.

43 You shall not compel them to do hard work; but shall fear your God.

44 But as for your male servants and your female servants whom you may have from among the people that are round about you, of them shall you buy bondmen and bondwomen.

45 Moreover of the children of the strangers who have sojourned among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they shall be your possession.

46 And you shall bequeath them to your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; you may make slaves of them for ever; but as for your brethren the children of Israel, you shall not compel them to do hard work.

47 And if a sojourner or stranger who dwells with you becomes rich, and your brother who dwells with him becomes poor and is sold to the stranger or sojourner who dwells with you or to a native born of the stranger's family who dwells with you,

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

49 Either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or any of his near kin belonging to his family may redeem him; or if he can afford it, he may redeem himself.

50 He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he was sold him to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him.

51 If there are still many years remaining, according to 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 a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according to his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.

53 As a yearly hired servant shall he be with him; and he shall not subject him to hard labor in your sight.

54 And if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he and his children with him.

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