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Easy-to-Read Version

Leviticus 25:32

"But about the cities of the Levites: The Levites can buy back at any time their houses in the cities that belong to them.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Debtor;   Homestead;   House;   Jubilee;   Land;   Levites;   Priest;   Property;   Redemption;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Cities;   Houses;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Debtor;   Jubilee;   Poor;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Jubilee;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Jubilee, Year of;   Ruth, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Debtor;   Levite;   Wall;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Jubilee;   King;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Festivals;   Levitical Cities;   Leviticus;   Number Systems and Number Symbolism;   Pentateuch;   Year of Jubilee;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Congregation, Assembly;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Hexateuch;   Holiness;   Law;   Leviticus;   Poverty;   Priests and Levites;   Sabbatical Year;   Sanctification, Sanctify;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jubilee;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Brother;   Feasts;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jubilee;   Levites;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;   Le'vites;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Agrarian Laws;   Criticism (the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis);   Inheritance;   Jubilee Year;   Levitical Cities;   Leviticus;   Oded;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - 'Arakin;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
King James Version
Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Lexham English Bible
"‘As for the cities of the Levites, that is, the houses in their property's cities, it shall be a lasting redemption for the Levites.
New Century Version
"‘The Levites may always buy back their houses in the cities that belong to them.
New English Translation
As for the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption.
Amplified Bible
'As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses in the cities which they possess.
New American Standard Bible
'As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Notwithstanding, the cities of the Leuites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Leuites redeeme at all seasons.
Legacy Standard Bible
As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.
Contemporary English Version
If any Levites own houses inside a walled city, they will always have the right to buy them back.
Complete Jewish Bible
"‘Concerning the cities of the L'vi'im and the houses in the cities they possess, the L'vi'im are to have a permanent right of redemption.
Darby Translation
But as to the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a perpetual right of redemption.
English Standard Version
As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess.
George Lamsa Translation
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.
Good News Translation
However, Levites have the right to buy back at any time their property in the cities assigned to them.
Christian Standard Bible®
“Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.
Literal Translation
As to the cities of the Levites, houses of the cities of their possession, never ending redemption rights shall be to the Levites.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The cities of the Leuites, and the houses in the cities that their possession is in, maye allwaye be redemed.
American Standard Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Bible in Basic English
But the houses in the towns of the Levites may be got back by the Levites at any time.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Notwithstandyng, the cities of the Leuites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Leuites redeeme at all seasons.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But as for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a perpetual right of redemption.
King James Version (1611)
Notwithstanding, the cities of the Leuites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Leuites redeeme at any time.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities in their possession, shall be always redeemable to the Levites.
English Revised Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Berean Standard Bible
As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The howsis of dekenes, that ben in citees, moun euer be ayenbouyt; if tho ben not ayenbouyt,
Young's Literal Translation
`As to cities of the Levites -- houses of the cities of their possession -- redemption age-during is to the Levites;
Update Bible Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
Webster's Bible Translation
Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, [and] the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
World English Bible
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
New King James Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
New Living Translation
"The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them.
New Life Bible
The houses in the cities of the Levites may be returned to the Levites at any time.
New Revised Standard
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.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And as for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, an age-abiding right of redemption, shall pertain unto the Levites.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed.
Revised Standard Version
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
THE MESSAGE
"As to the Levitical cities, houses in the cities owned by the Levites are always subject to redemption. Levitical property is always redeemable if it is sold in a town that they hold and reverts to them in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the People of Israel. The pastures belonging to their cities may not be sold; they are their permanent possession.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.

Contextual Overview

23 "The land really belongs to me, so you cannot sell it permanently. You are only foreigners and travelers living on my land with me. 24 People might sell their land, but the family will always get their land back. 25 If someone in your country becomes very poor and must sell their property, a close relative must come and buy it back. 26 If there is not a close relative to buy back the land, the person might get enough money to buy it back. 27 Then the years must be counted since the land was sold. That number must be used to decide how much to pay for the land. The person must then buy back the land, and it will be their property again. 28 But if this first owner cannot find enough money to buy the land back, it will stay in the hands of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. Then during that special celebration, the land will go back to the first owner's family. So the property will again belong to the right family. 29 "Anyone who sells a home in a walled city still has the right to get it back until a full year after it was sold. Their right to get the house back will continue one year. 30 But if the owner does not buy back the house before a full year is finished, the house that is in the walled city will belong to the one who bought it and to their descendants. The house will not go back to the first owner at the time of Jubilee. 31 Towns without walls around them will be treated like open fields. So houses built in these small towns will go back to the first owners at the time of Jubilee. 32 "But about the cities of the Levites: The Levites can buy back at any time their houses in the cities that belong to them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the cities: As the Levites had no inheritance in Israel, but only cities to dwell in; and consequently the houses in these cities were all they could call their own, therefore they could not be ultimately alienated. Numbers 35:2-8, Joshua 21:1-45

Cross-References

Exodus 22:9
"What should you do if two men disagree about a bull or a donkey or sheep or clothing or something that is lost? One man says, ‘This is mine,' and the other says, ‘No, it is mine.' Both men should go before the judges who will decide who is guilty. The one who was wrong must pay the other man twice as much as the thing is worth.
Job 21:15
And they say, ‘Who is God All-Powerful? We don't need to serve him! It will not help to pray to him!'
Job 22:17
They told God, ‘Leave us alone!' and said, ‘God All-Powerful cannot do anything to us!'
Job 34:9
I know this because he says, ‘You will gain nothing if you try to please God.'
Malachi 3:14
You said, "It is useless to worship God. We did what the Lord All-Powerful told us, but we didn't gain anything. We cried like people at a funeral to show we were sorry for our sins, but it didn't help.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Notwithstanding, the cities of the Levites,.... The six cities of refuge, and forty two others; these and the houses in them are excepted from the above law, and only they; not such as they might purchase elsewhere; wherefore it follows,

[and] the houses of the cities of their possession; which were in cities possessed by them, and which was their possession, and given them as such:

may the Levites redeem at any time; they were not restrained to a year, as houses in walled towns, but they might redeem them as they pleased or could; and if they did not redeem them within the year, they might redeem them afterwards, even years after, and any time before the year of jubilee; so it is said in the Misnah l the priests and the Levites sell always, and they redeem always, as it is said, Leviticus 25:32; on which one of the commentators says m "they sell always", not as the Israelites, who cannot sell less than two years before the jubilee; but the Levites can sell near the jubilee: "and they redeem always"; if they sell houses in walled cities, they are not confirmed at the end of the year, as the houses of Israelites; and if they sell fields, it is not necessary they should remain in the hands of the buyer two years, but they may redeem them immediately if they will: this redemption was peculiar to the Levites; for if an Israelite has an inheritance from his father's mother, a Levite, he might not redeem according to the manner Levites did, but according to Israelites; and so a Levite that inherited from his father's mother, an Israelite, was obliged to redeem as an Israelite and not as a Levite n; for this perpetual redemption respected only houses that were in the cities of the Levites.

l Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8. m Bartenora in ib. n Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rather, And concerning the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, etc. If one of the Levites redeems a house in the city, etc. The meaning appears to be, if a Levite redeemed a house which had been sold to a person of a different tribe by another Levite, it was to revert in the Jubilee to the latter Levite as its original possessor. The purchaser of a Levite’s house was in fact only in the condition of a tenant at will, while the fields attached to the Levitical cities could never be alienated, even for a time.

For the application of the law of Jubilee to lands dedicated to the service of the sanctuary, see Leviticus 27:16-25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 32. The cities of the Levites — The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise one. A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time tn the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why? "Because Moses framed his laws so much in favour of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges?" &c. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favoured that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in: and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.


 
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