The Seventh Year (Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)
1 WBS And the LORD spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
2 WBS Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the LORD. BSB BSB: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
3 WBS Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; BSB BSB: For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.
4 WBS But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. BSB BSB: But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.
5 WBS That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest to the land. BSB BSB: You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.
6 WBS And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, BSB BSB: Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,
7 WBS And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase of it be food. BSB BSB: and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.
The Year of Jubilee 8 WBS And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years to thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to thee forty and nine years. BSB BSB: And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years.
9 WBS Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. BSB BSB: Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.
10 WBS And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants: it shall be a jubilee to you; and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man to his family. BSB BSB: So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.
11 WBS A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. BSB BSB: The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.
12 WBS For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy to you: ye shall eat the increase of it out of the field. BSB BSB: For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.
Return of Property 13 WBS In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man to his possession. BSB BSB: In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.
14 WBS And if thou shalt sell aught to thy neighbor, or buy aught of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: BSB BSB: If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.
15 WBS According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to thee: BSB BSB: You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining.
16 WBS According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell to thee. BSB BSB: You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.
17 WBS Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. BSB BSB: Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.
The Blessing of Obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1–14)
18 WBS Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. BSB BSB: You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.
19 WBS And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell in it in safety. BSB BSB: Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.
20 WBS And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase: BSB BSB: Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
21 WBS Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. BSB BSB: But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.
22 WBS And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year; until its fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store . BSB BSB: While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.
The Law of Redemption 23 WBS The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. BSB BSB: The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.
24 WBS And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. BSB BSB: Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
25 WBS If thy brother shall have become poor, and have sold some of his possession, and if any of his kin shall come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. BSB BSB: If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold.
26 WBS And if the man shall have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; BSB BSB: Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,
27 WBS Then let him count the years of the sale of it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it; that he may return to his possession. BSB BSB: he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.
28 WBS But if he shall not be able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession. BSB BSB: But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property.
29 WBS And if a man shall sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold: within a full year may he redeem it. BSB BSB: If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.
30 WBS And if it shall not be redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee, BSB BSB: If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee.
31 WBS But the houses of the villages which have no walls around them, shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. BSB BSB: But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
32 WBS Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. BSB BSB: As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.
33 WBS And if a man shall purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession shall go out in the year of jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. BSB BSB: So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.
34 WBS But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. BSB BSB: But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.
Redemption of the Poor 35 WBS And if thy brother shall have become poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he may be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. BSB BSB: Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.
36 WBS Take thou no interest of him, or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. BSB BSB: Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.
37 WBS Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. BSB BSB: You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.
38 WBS I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. BSB BSB: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
Redemption of Bondmen 39 WBS And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee shall have become poor, and be sold to thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant: BSB BSB: If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
40 WBS But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee to the year of jubilee.BSB BSB: Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.
41 WBS And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers shall he return. BSB BSB: Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.
42 WBS For they are my servants, which I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bond-men. BSB BSB: Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
43 WBS Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God. BSB BSB: You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.
45 WBS Moreover of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. BSB BSB: You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.
46 WBS And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession, they shall be your bond-men for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigor. BSB BSB: You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.
Redemption of Servants 47 WBS And if a sojourner or a stranger shall become rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him shall become poor, and sell himself to the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: BSB BSB: If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,
48 WBS After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: BSB BSB: he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him:
49 WBS Either his uncle, or his uncle's son may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin to him of his family, may redeem him; or if he is able, he may redeem himself. BSB BSB: either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.
50 WBS And he shall reckon with him that bought him, from the year that he was sold to 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. BSB BSB: He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.
51 WBS If there shall be yet many years behind , according to them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. BSB BSB: If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.
52 WBS And if there shall remain but 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. BSB BSB: If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.
53 WBS And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.BSB BSB: He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.
54 WBS And if he shall not be redeemed in these years , then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him. BSB BSB: Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee.
55 WBS For to me the children of Israel are servants, they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. BSB BSB: For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.