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Home > Bible > Leviticus > Chapter 25
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Leviticus Chapter 25

The law of the seventh and of the fiftieth year of jubilee.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the sabbath of the Lord. 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof. 4 But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord. Thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 5 What the ground shall bring forth of itself, thou shalt not reap: neither shalt thou gather the grapes or the firstfruits as a vintage. For it is a year of rest to the land. 6 But they shall be unto you for meat, to thee and to thy manservant, to thy maidservant and thy hireling, and to the strangers that sojourn with thee. 7 All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.

8 Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years: that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years. 9 And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land. 10 And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family: Remission... That is, a general release and discharge from debts and bondage, and a reinstating of every man in his former possessions. 11 Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the firstfruits of the vines, 12 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee. But as they grow you shall presently eat them.

13 In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions. 14 When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him: grieve not thy brother. But thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee. 15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits. 16 The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits. 17 Do not afflict your countrymen: but let every one fear his God. Because I am the Lord your God. 18 Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear. 19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no man's invasion. 20 But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits? 21 I will give you my blessing the sixth year: and it shall yield the fruits of three years. 22 And the eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, until the ninth year: till new grow up, you shall eat the old store. 23 The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption. 25 If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will: he may redeem what he had sold. 26 But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it: 27 The value of the fruits shall be counted from that time when he sold it. And the overplus he shall restore to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again. 28 But if his hands find not the means to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor. 29 He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired. 30 If he redeem it not, and the whole year be fully out, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it cannot be redeemed, not even in the jubilee. 31 But if the house be in a village, that hath no walls, it shall be sold according to the same law as the fields. If it be not redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the owner. 32 The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed. 33 If they be not redeemed, in the jubilee they shall all return to the owners: because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possessions among the children of Israel. 34 But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a perpetual possession.

35 If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee: 36 Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest. Fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury: nor exact of him any increase of fruits. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Chanaan, and might be your God.

39 If thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee: thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants. 40 But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee. 41 And afterwards he shall go out with his children: and shall return to his kindred and to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen. 43 Afflict him not by might: but fear thy God. 44 Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you: 45 And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land. These you shall have for servants: 46 And by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might. 47 If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race: 48 After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him: 49 Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall redeem himself: 50 Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant. 51 If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price. 52 If few, he shall make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years: and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth of the years. 53 His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight. 54 And if by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children. 55 For the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt.

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen in monte Sinai, dicens: 2 Loquere filiis Israël, et dices ad eos: Quando ingressi fueritis terram quam ego dabo vobis, sabbatizes sabbatum Domino. 3 Sex annis seres agrum tuum, et sex annis putabis vineam tuam, colligesque fructus ejus: 4 septimo autem anno sabbatum erit terræ, requietionis Domini: agrum non seres, et vineam non putabis. 5 Quæ sponte gignet humus, non metes: et uvas primitiarum tuarum non colliges quasi vindemiam: annus enim requietionis terræ est: 6 sed erunt vobis in cibum, tibi et servo tuo, ancillæ et mercenario tuo, et advenæ qui peregrinantur apud te: 7 jumentis tuis et pecoribus, omnia quæ nascuntur præbebunt cibum.

8 Numerabis quoque tibi septem hebdomadas annorum, id est, septies septem, quæ simul faciunt annos quadraginta novem: 9 et clanges buccina mense septimo, decima die mensis, propitiationis tempore, in universa terra vestra. 10 Sanctificabisque annum quinquagesimum, et vocabis remissionem cunctis habitatoribus terræ tuæ: ipse est enim jubilæus. Revertetur homo ad possessionem suam, et unusquisque rediet ad familiam pristinam: 11 quia jubilæus est, et quinquagesimus annus. Non seretis neque metetis sponte in agro nascentia, et primitias vindemiæ non colligetis, 12 ob sanctificationem jubilæi: sed statim oblata comedetis.

13 Anno jubilæi, redient omnes ad possessiones suas. 14 Quando vendes quippiam civi tuo, vel emes ab eo, ne contristes fratrem tuum, sed juxta numerum annorum jubilæi emes ab eo, 15 et juxta supputationem frugum vendet tibi. 16 Quanto plures anni remanserint post jubilæum, tanto crescet et pretium: et quanto minus temporis numeraveris, tanto minoris et emptio constabit: tempus enim frugum vendet tibi. 17 Nolite affligere contribules vestros, sed timeat unusquisque Deum suum, quia ego Dominus Deus vester. 18 Facite præcepta mea, et judicia custodite, et implete ea: ut habitare possitis in terra absque ullo pavore, 19 et gignat vobis humus fructus suos, quibus vescamini usque ad saturitatem, nullius impetum formidantes. 20 Quod si dixeritis: Quid comedemus anno septimo, si non severimus, neque collegerimus fruges nostras? 21 dabo benedictionem meam vobis anno sexto, et faciet fructus trium annorum: 22 seretisque anno octavo, et comedetis veteres fruges usque ad nonum annum: donec nova nascantur, edetis vetera. 23 Terra quoque non vendetur in perpetuum, quia mea est, et vos advenæ et coloni mei estis: 24 unde cuncta regio possessionis vestræ sub redemptionis conditione vendetur. 25 Si attenuatus frater tuus vendiderit possessiunculam suam, et voluerit propinquus ejus, potest redimere quod ille vendiderat. 26 Sin autem non habuerit proximum, et ipse pretium ad redimendum potuerit invenire, 27 computabuntur fructus ex eo tempore quo vendidit: et quod reliquum est, reddet emptori, sicque recipiet possessionem suam. 28 Quod si non invenerit manus ejus ut reddat pretium, habebit emptor quod emerat, usque ad annum jubilæum. In ipso enim omnis venditio redibit ad dominum et ad possessorem pristinum. 29 Qui vendiderit domum intra urbis muros, habebit licentiam redimendi, donec unus impleatur annus. 30 Si non redemerit, et anni circulus fuerit evolutus, emptor possidebit eam, et posteri ejus in perpetuum, et redimi non poterit, etiam in jubilæo. 31 Sin autem in villa domus, quæ muros non habet, agrorum jure vendetur: si ante redempta non fuerit, in jubilæo revertetur ad dominum. 32 Ædes Levitarum quæ in urbibus sunt, semper possunt redimi: 33 si redemptæ non fuerint, in jubilæo revertentur ad dominos, quia domus urbium Levitarum pro possessionibus sunt inter filios Israël. 34 Suburbana autem eorum non veneant, quia possessio sempiterna est.

35 Si attenuatus fuerit frater tuus, et infirmus manu, et susceperis eum quasi advenam et peregrinum, et vixerit tecum, 36 ne accipias usuras ab eo, nec amplius quam dedisti: time Deum tuum, ut vivere possit frater tuus apud te. 37 Pecuniam tuam non dabis ei ad usuram, et frugum superabundantiam non exiges. 38 Ego Dominus Deus vester, qui eduxi vos de terra Ægypti, ut darem vobis terram Chanaan, et essem vester Deus.

39 Si paupertate compulsus vendiderit se tibi frater tuus, non eum opprimes servitute famulorum, 40 sed quasi mercenarius et colonus erit: usque ad annum jubilæum operabitur apud te, 41 et postea egredietur cum liberis suis, et revertetur ad cognationem, ad possessionem patrum suorum. 42 Mei enim servi sunt, et ego eduxi eos de terra Ægypti: non veneant conditione servorum: 43 ne affligas eum per potentiam, sed metuito Deum tuum. 44 Servus et ancilla sint vobis de nationibus quæ in circuitu vestro sunt: 45 et de advenis qui peregrinantur apud vos, vel qui ex his nati fuerint in terra vestra, hos habebitis famulos: 46 et hæreditario jure transmittetis ad posteros, ac possidebitis in æternum: fratres autem vestros filios Israël ne opprimatis per potentiam. 47 Si invaluerit apud vos manus advenæ atque peregrini, et attenuatus frater tuus vendiderit se ei, aut cuiquam de stirpe ejus: 48 post venditionem potest redimi. Qui voluerit ex fratribus suis, redimet eum, 49 et patruus, et patruelis, et consanguineus, et affinis. Sin autem et ipse potuerit, redimet se, 50 supputatis dumtaxat annis a tempore venditionis suæ usque ad annum jubilæum: et pecunia, qua venditus fuerat, juxta annorum numerum, et rationem mercenarii supputata. 51 Si plures fuerint anni qui remanent usque ad jubilæum, secundum hos reddet et pretium: 52 si pauci, ponet rationem cum eo juxta annorum numerum, et reddet emptori quod reliquum est annorum, 53 quibus ante servivit mercedibus imputatis: non affliget eum violenter in conspectu tuo. 54 Quod si per hæc redimi non potuerit, anno jubilæo egredietur cum liberis suis. 55 Mei enim sunt servi filii Israël, quos eduxi de terra Ægypti.

Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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