Leviticus 25:33

33 Whatever [property] one of the Levites can redeem^[a]-a house sold in a city they possess-must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

Leviticus 25:33 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:33

And if a man purchase of the Levites
An house or city, as Jarchi, and which the following clause confirms, that is, if a common Israelite made such a purchase, then it was redeemable, but if a Levite purchased of a Levite, then, as the same writer observes, it was absolutely irredeemable: then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go
out in [the year of] jubilee;
to the original owner of it, as fields and houses in villages sold by the Israelites for the houses of the cities of the Levites [are] their possession
among the children of Israel;
and their only possession, and therefore if those, when sold, were irredeemable, they would entirely be without any; and hence care is taken they should not; so Jarchi observes, that the Levites had no possession of fields and vineyards, only cities to dwell in, and their suburbs; wherefore cities were to them instead of fields, and their redemption was as that of fields, that so their inheritance might not be broken off from them.

Leviticus 25:33 In-Context

31 But houses in villages that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem [such] houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

32 "Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.

33 Whatever [property] one of the Levites can redeem-a house sold in a city they possess-must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

34 The open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.

35 "If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you, you are to support him as a foreigner or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hb obscure