Study Desk

'For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce,

'All of you shall have the Sabbath produce of the land as food; for yourself, your male and female slaves, and your hired worker and your foreign resident, those who live as strangers among you.

'You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, that is, forty-nine years.

'So you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

'For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce from the field.

'So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years.

'The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, because the land is Mine; for you are only strangers and residents with Me.

'So for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

'Or in case someone has no redeemer, but recovers to find sufficient means for its redemption,

'But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall revert, so that he may return to his property.

'But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not revert in the jubilee.

'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.

'But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.

'You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for profit.

'For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.

'As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.

'If there are still many years remaining, he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption;

but if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption.

'For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.