1 The LORD then spoke to Moses at MountSinai, saying,
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"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the landwhich I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD.
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'1Sixyears you shall sow your field, and sixyears you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop,
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but during 2the seventhyear the land shall have a sabbathrest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your fieldnorprune your vineyard.
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'Your harvest'saftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmedvines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbaticalyear.
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'3All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and femaleslaves*, and your hiredman and your foreignresident, those who live as aliens with you.
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'Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall haveall its crops to eat.
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'You are also to count off sevensabbaths of years for yourself, seventimessevenyears, so that you have the time of the sevensabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine*years.
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'You shall then sound a ram'shorn abroad on 4the tenth day of the seventhmonth; on the day of atonement you shall sound a hornall through your land.
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'You shall thus consecrate the fiftiethyear and 5proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and 6each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
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'You shall have the fiftiethyear as a jubilee; you shall not sow, norreap its aftergrowth, norgather in from its untrimmedvines.
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'For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.
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'7On thisyear of jubileeeach of you shall return to his own property.
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'If you make a sale, moreover, to your friendorbuy from your friend'shand, 8you shall not wrongoneanother.
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'Corresponding to the number of yearsafter the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.
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'9In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you.
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'So 10you shall not wrongoneanother, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.
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'You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that 11you may livesecurely on the land.
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'Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and livesecurely on it.
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'But if you say, "12What are we going to eat on the seventhyearif we do not sow or gather in our crops?"
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then 13I will so order My blessing for you in the sixthyear that it will bringforth the crop for threeyears.
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'When you are sowing the eighthyear, you can still eat14oldthings from the crop, eating the old until the ninthyearwhen its cropcomes in.
The Law of Redemption
23 'The land, moreover, shall not be soldpermanently, for 15the land is Mine; for 16you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.
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'Thus for everypiece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.
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'17If a fellowcountryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearestkinsman is to come and buybackwhat his relative has sold.
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'Or in case a manhasnokinsman, but so recovers his means as to findsufficient for its redemption,
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18then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property.
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'But if he has not foundsufficientmeans to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaseruntil the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall revert, that 19he may return to his property.
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'Likewise, if a mansells a dwellinghouse in a walledcity, then his redemptionrightremains valid until a fullyear from its sale; his right of redemptionlasts a fullyear.
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'But if it is not boughtback for him within the space of a fullyear, then the house that is in the walledcitypassespermanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not revert in the jubilee.
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'The houses of the villages, however, whichhavenosurroundingwall shall be considered as openfields; they haveredemptionrights and revert in the jubilee.
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'As for 20cities of the Levites, the Leviteshave a permanentright of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.
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'What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a housesale in the city of this possessionreverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possessionamong the sons of Israel.
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'21But pasturefields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetualpossession.
Of Poor Countrymen
35 '22Now in case a countryman of yours becomespoor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
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'23Do not takeusuriousinterest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you.
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'You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.
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'24I am the LORD your God, whobrought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and 25to be your God.
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'26If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave'sservice.
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'He shall be with you as a hiredman, as 27if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.
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'He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall goback to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.
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'For they are My servantswhom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slavesale.
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'28You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.
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'As for your male and femaleslaves*whom you may have -you may acquiremale and femaleslaves* from the pagan nations that are around you.
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'Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliensamong you that you may gainacquisition, and out of their familieswho are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.
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'You may even bequeath them to your sonsafter you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanentslaves. 29But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over oneanother.
Of Redeeming a Poor Man
47 'Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomessufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger'sfamily,
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then he shall haveredemptionrightafter he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him,
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or his uncle, or his uncle'sson, may redeem him, or one of his bloodrelatives from his family may redeem him; or30if he prospers, he may redeem himself.
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'He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hiredman that he shall be with him.
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'If there are stillmanyyears, 31he shall refund part of his purchaseprice in proportion to them for his own redemption;
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and iffewyearsremainuntil the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption.
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'Like a manhiredyear by year he shall be with him; 32he shall not rule over him with severity in your sight.
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'Even if he is not redeemed by these means, 33he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him.
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'For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servantswhom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.