Study Desk

'What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.

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

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

'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, he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption;

and 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.

'You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.

'Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.

'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

'Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.

'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.

then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.

'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.

'As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall.

I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity,

'For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.